Marlow preaches caution as Sliema eye progress

Sliema Wanderers will be striving to become the second Maltese side to advance to the second round of a UEFA competition this summer when they take on Croatia's HNK Sibenik in today's second leg of their Europa League first qualifying round tie at the Centenary Stadium (kick-off 5.30 p.m.).

Birkirkara's progress to the second qualifying round of the Champions League ought to have enhanced Sliema's motivation to complete the job on home soil after the Blues improved their chances by holding Sibenik to a goalless draw in the away leg last week.

Mark Marlow, the Sliema coach, is pleased with the outcome of last week's match but warned that the tie is still wide open.

"It's always a positive thing when you don't concede a goal in the away leg but with the score tied at 0-0, the home match will be very difficult, a tricky fixture," Marlow told The Times.

"I'd rather have drawn 1-1 in Croatia but 0-0 also gives us a good chance of moving into the next round."

Tactical cohesion was identified by Marlow as the key to Sliema's solid performance in Dugopolje last week.

"I'm satisfied with the performance of my team in the first leg," Marlow said.

"The players heeded my instructions to near perfection and showed great tactical discipline. I expected Sibenik to force the tempo but we created a string of scoring chances on the counter."

A victory for Sliema this evening would take them through to a second round meeting with either Anorthosis Famagusta, of Cyprus, or Armenia's FC Banants (Anorthosis won the first leg 3-0) but Marlow has no intention of throwing caution to the wind.

"We must be prudent in our approach because the tie is still finely-poised," Marlow said.

"That said, we must go into the match with a winning mentality. We have to believe in our chances because we're still very much in contention.

"To accomplish our mission, we have to give our all. Our job is even harder than when we played in Croatia because to make sure of going through to the next round, we must score and keep our opponents at bay. It's a tough task but definitely not impossible."

Marlow is unlikely to make significant changes from the team that started the first leg.

Wing-back Clayton Failla has fully recovered from nasal surgery and could start today.

Malta right-back Alex Muscat and young winger Miguel Ciantar are still sidelined with injuries.

Alan Black, from Northern Ireland, will officiate this evening's match.