Valletta 2
Denni 22; Scerri 52;
Hibernians 0
The festive season is upon us and Valletta yesterday regaled their boisterous fans with an early Christmas present.
Their second-round showdown with the tottering Hibs was viewed as a tricky test for Valletta as the Paolites were reportedly itching to take on their rivals in the hope of reviving their season but the Citizens look unstoppable at present.
Buoyed by their 10-match unbeaten sequence, Valletta further embellished their status as title favourites with another imperious performance that propelled them to a deserved 2-0 victory and a seven-point lead at the top.
For all the talk of a potentially high-octane encounter, Hibs were made to look ordinary by the runaway leaders who were dominant throughout, even after their mercurial Brazilian forward Denni had left the field on a stretcher after taking a blow to his head as he scored Valletta’s opening goal.
The loss of Denni after just 23 minutes temporarily interrupted Valletta’s momentum but they reasserted their superiority in the second half to add a second goal which all but crushed Hibs’ fading hopes of ending their winless streak which stretched to nine games yesterday.
It was only in the latter stages of the game that Mark Miller’s battered troops posed a modicum of danger to Valletta but the latter had long been home and dry.
As the mirthful City supporters cherished another positive showing by their team, a long and hard winter awaits the dejected Hibs players and fans as their Championship Pool hopes have suffered another severe setback.
Brazilian defender Ramon, who was out of sorts in Valletta’s 3-2 defeat of Vittoriosa Stars, didn’t start after suffering a slight injury in training. His place was taken by Jonathan Caruana, back after recovering from a knock, with Steve Borg filling the other centre-half role in Valletta’s 4-4-2 formation.
Miller had been concerned about the fitness of defenders Jonathan Pearson and Matthew Clarke. The latter received the medical green light to start but Miller took no risks with Pearson who was named among the substitutes. The onus of partnering Clarke in the centre of defence fell to Aaron Xuereb.
With Scottish midfielder Richie Hart ruled out by suspension, Miller detailed the young Bjorn Kristensen and newcomer Paulo Sereno to drop back in support of holding midfielder Zoran Levnaic.
The Hibs coach opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation with Scottish striker Paul McManus deployed as lone forward.
The opening exchanges were balanced but Valletta mustered two scoring opportunities in quick succession after 13 minutes.
Mario Muscat, the Hibs goalkeeper who was targeted for terrible abuse by the City fans yesterday, denied Valletta when he leapt to push away Jamie Pace’s dipping header from Kevin Sammut’s right-wing free-kick.
From the ensuing corner, the ball reached Sammut again on the right wing and the City midfielder drove it back into the box.
Hibs’ response to the escalating danger was somewhat hesitant as the ball was diverted into the path of Pace at the far post but the latter’s cross-shot ricocheted off Terrence Scerri in the six-yard box.
Scerri forged a two-pronged attack with Denni but the latter was conspicuous with his intelligent roaming and movement off the ball.
The Brazilian livewire delivered further evidence of his rich form when, midway into the first half, he ghosted into the box to direct a powerful header past Muscat after Sammut had sent in another brilliant cross from the right.
The delight of the City players and fans soon gave way to apprehension as sights were drawn to the motionless figure of Denni who appeared to have been knocked unconscious after colliding with Edward Herrera.
Denni was quickly seen to by MFA doctor David Attard and team medics but he was unable to continue. Ian Zammit came on for Denni after 25 minutes.
Hibs had to wait until the 31st minute to produce their first attempt at goal. Latching onto a cross from the left, McManus laid the ball back to Andrew Cohen but the latter’s central shot failed to trouble Andrew Hogg.
With seven minutes of the first half remaining, Ian Azzopardi did well to hurl himself in the way of Cohen’s drive after Valletta had failed to deal with Paulo Sereno’s cross from the left.
Denni’s premature exit clearly robbed Valletta of their chief fount of creativity and the match also suffered as a result as the final 20 minutes of the first half were largely bereft of flowing football.
The Paolites ran and harried but offered little in attack. A minute from half-time, Portuguese midfielder Paulo Sereno, who made his debut in Hibs’ 1-1 draw with Floriana, showed good skill when he squeezed his way past Roderick Briffa and Borg but his lob was high.
The second half was only three minutes old when Valletta threatened to double their lead. Omonigo Temile made headway on the left and flicked a perfect pass to Scerri who held off Clarke but his piledriver rattled the near post. The rebound fell to the unguarded Sammut but the latter miscued his effort.
Valletta didn’t have to wait long to increase their lead as, seven minutes into the second half, they made it 2-0.
Scerri darted into the box to receive Temile’s return pass but his progression appeared to have been halted by Xuereb. However, the latter’s half-clearance was seized upon by the City striker who curled the ball past Muscat from an angled position.
With Hibs teetering, Valletta were now expected to turn the screw. Miller made his first substitution on 57 minutes, throwing on striker Warren Chircop for the subdued Cohen.
Chircop’s first intervention was to slip a through-pass to McManus but the latter drove his shot against the side-netting. Sereno’s long-range free-kick was high.
At the other end, Zammit let fly a ferocious drive that almost deceived Muscat but the Hibs goalkeeper touched the ball over the bar.
Needing a goal to resuscitate their hopes, Hibs began to show themselves more often in the City half as the second period wore on.
With 18 minutes left, Herrera burst clear of Temile on the right and whipped in a teasing cross that Hogg failed to hold. McManus darted through but his angled effort was repelled by the City goalkeeper.
With 10 minutes remaining, McManus tried his luck with a long-range free-kick but his effort was off target.
As Valletta switched to cruise control, Hibs staged a belated reaction in the dying moments.
An effort by Herrera flew high and Hogg fisted away Matthew Gauci’s free-kick. On another occasion, the wasteful McManus drove wide from inside the box.
In stoppage time, Hogg preserved Valletta’s two-goal lead when parrying away substitute Jean Paul Farrugia’s penalty-box drive.
Valletta
A. Hogg-6, R. Briffa-7, J. Caruana-6.5, E. Agius-6.5, J. Pace-7.5, S. Borg-6.5, I. Azzopardi-6.5, K. Sammut-6.5 (90 K. Magro), O. Temile-6 (76 D. Falzon), Denni-6.5 (26 I. Zammit-6), T. Scerri-6.5.
Hibernians
M. Muscat-6, E. Herrera-5.5, M. Gauci-6, A. Xuereb-5, B. Kristensen-5, Z. Levnaic-6, P. McManus-4, S. Pisani-4 (80 J. Pearson), M. Clarke-5, A. Cohen-4 (57 W. Chircop-5.5), P. Sereno-5 (74 J.P. Farrugia).
Referee: Andre Arciola.
Yellow cards: Levnaic; Agius; Hogg.
BOV player of the match: Jamie Pace (Valletta).
Attendance: 3,147.