City roar to emphatic 3-0 win

Tre Fiori 0
Valletta 3
Denni 43; Effiong 50; G. Agius 70 pen;

Valletta have one foot in the second qualifying round of the Champions League after cruising past Tre Fiori in a 3-0 win at Serravalle last night.

It was a merited victory for the Citizens again inspired by the clever running of Denni and Alfred Effiong who marked his debut with a goal.

Valletta outclassed their op-ponents and could have left the Olympic Stadium with an even more pronounced victory had they been more clinical in front of goal.

Still the three-goal cushion should be enough for Jesmond Zerafa’s team to negotiate the round and book their place in the next stage of the competition where they meet Ekranas, of Lithuania.

Steve Borg and Jonathan Caruana filled the two central defensive roles as Dyson Falzon was deployed at right back and Roderick Briffa replaced Ian Azzopardi on the left.

Jamie Pace was also back in the starting line-up after missing the Euro Cup matches to serve suspension as Valletta settled down quickly and took just eight minutes to create the first scoring opportunity.

Brazilian William Barbosa was tripped on the edge of the box and from the free-kick Ryan Fenech’s inswinger was pushed away to a corner by goalkeeper Mauro Bertozzi.

Effiong should have done better on 12 minutes when the Nigerian was put clean through by Edmond Agius but his shot was repelled by Bertozzi.

Valletta almost paid for that miss but Federico Macina’s shot on the turn was stopped by the alert Andrew Hogg in City’s goal.

Effiong was keeping the hosts under pressure and on one occasion he showed great skills to turn past his marker before unleashing a powerful drive that was parried by the keeper.

Valletta got a timely breakthrough just before half-time. Ryan Fenech slid the ball into the path of Effiong who dashed through and served team-mate Denni who had little difficulty in planting the ball home.

Things got even better for the visitors as five minutes into the second half Denni sprinted past two defenders before releasing Effiong who beat the offside trap and placed the ball beyond Bertozzi’s reach.

Buoyed by that two-goal cushion Zerafa roped in the experienced Gilbert Agius and Valletta now looked well in control as Tre Fiori were clearly running out of breath.

Michele Simoncini’s low drive rolled just wide but at the other end Barbosa should have made it 3-0 but hit incredibly fired wide with only Bertozzi to beat.

However, that was just a temporary reprieve for the San Marino champs as Valletta grabbed a third goal on 68 minutes when Matteo Andreini was harshly punished for a slight push on Gilbert Agius in the box. The City veteran picked himself up and drilled the ball past Bertozzi.

Denni had a glorious chance to make it 4-0 but fired wide from a good position as Tre Fiori ended the match on a sour note when the referee failed to award them a penalty after a careless Borg tackle on Simoncini late on.

Tre Fiori
M. Bertozzi, A. Ballanti, N. Canarezza, G. Benedettini, M. Simoncini, P. Tarini (46 N. Grini), A. Giunta (65 F. Amici), A. Lisi, M. Andreini, F. Vannoni, F. Macina (56 G. Zenunay).

Valletta
A. Hogg, J. Caruana (71 K. Scicluna), S. Borg, R. Fenech (55 G. Agius), E. Agius, R. Briffa,W. Barbosa, J. Pace, Denni, D. Falzon, A. Effiong (60 I. Zammit).

Referee: Alan Muir (Scotland).

Yellow cards: Briffa, Caruana, Tarini, Andreini.

Other result
Santa Coloma vs Dudelange 0-2.