Lija add to Msida’s woes

Msida St Joseph 1
Lija Athletic 2

This has been an awful week for lowly Msida who lost the three points they had won on the field against Balzan in a protest decided on Wednesday and yesterday they left the Hamrun ground empty-handed after going down to Lija Athletic.

Msida had Valdo Goncalvez Alhinho in superb form but in the end his contribution was not enough to stop Lija from chalking up their third consecutive win.

Lija went close early on through Admir Dzanovic but suffered a setback on 20 minutes when the influential Kurt Formosa had to be substituted because of an injury.

With Formosa out, Msida took the lead on 30 minutes when Joseph D’Amato rose high to head home an Alinho free-kick.

Lija tried to get their act together but the Saints kept showing the better football and were close to adding a second only for Karl Saliba’s shot to be stopped by Sean Mintoff.

The second half saw a different Lija . On 53 minutes, Antoine Sacco had his grounder saved and Marco Gerada’s team equalised on the hour when Dzanovic headed home a Keith Darmanin corner.

Five minutes later Lija were awarded a penalty when Jonathan Mifsud handled the ball in his own area. Darmanin took the spot-kick and sent Alden the wrong way to make it 2-1. The Saints hit back strongly and were unlucky when Matthew Borda’s effort shaved the crossbar following an Adrian Farrugia cross from the right.

Msida continued to push more men forward in search of an equaliser but Lija defended stoutly to win three precious points and leave their opponents still reeling at the wrong end of the standings.

Msida: J. Alden, J. D’Amato (C. Cioffi), J. Mifsud, K. Saliba (J. Delia), R. Caruana, L. Micallef, M. Borda, V.G. Alinho, V. Ture, M. Curtis (P. Sacchai), A. Farrugia.

Lija: S. Mintoff, A. Saliba, D. Scerri, A. Sacco (W. Borg St John), M. Potezica, K. Darmanin, M. Fleri Soler, K. Formosa (T. Fleri Soler), A. Scicluna, A. Dzanovic, B. Antignolo (D. Caruana)

Referee: Mario Apap.

Man of the match: Keith Darmanin (Lija Atheltic)