Farrugia’s stoppage-time penalty sinks Spartans

Ħamrun Spartans 2
Grima 45; Sammut 77;
Qormi 3
Sciberras 8; Nwoke 63; Farrugia 90 Pen;

Qormi skipper Joseph Farrugia converted a 90th-minute penalty to hand Qormi a dramatic victory over a battling Ħamrun Spartans side in a thrilling encounter at the National Stadium yesterday.

Qormi dominated for long periods and at times, it looked as though an onslaught was on the cards in the first half. However, the Spartans showed tremendous spirit to battle back twice from a goal down but in the end their efforts were dashed when Farrugia netted from the penalty spot to give the Yellow-Blacks a third successive win.

Qormi were inspired by their foreign trio of Abubakar Bello-Osagie, Jorge da Silva Pereira and new recruit Daniel Nwoke and looked far more threatening than the Spartans.

But there were also many encouraging signs for Ħamrun following a difficult start to the season with Gianluca Calabretta finally looking comfortable on the ball and Carlo Polli a menace.

In a nuthshell both sides performed admirably and provided ample entertainment to the thousands of fans that turned up at Ta’ Qali last night.

Qormi coach Stephen Azzopardi kept faith with almost the same team that won so convincingly against Tarxien last week.

Nwoke was the only new face in the starting formation and his inclusion necessitated some positional changes for a more offensive formation that switched from 4-3-3 to 4-3-2-1.

Roderick Fenech was again available for the Spartans as he partnered Nikica Gacesa in the heart of defence, but flaws were swiftly exposed by the manner in which Qormi took the lead.

Pereira’s lofted pass was inventive but the Ħamrun’s defence failed to react for what lay ahead, allowing the nippy Luke Sciberras to curl a perfect finish beyond Omar Borg’s grasp after eight minutes.

At that stage, defender Kenneth Scicluna had already denied Ħamrun a goal after pouncing on Gaetan Spiteri’s shot, clearing the ball off the line.

On 13 minutes, Ħamrun survived another intense moment when they were undone by another piece of magic from Matthew Bartolo, linking with Pereira only to see the latter’s effort going wide.

Four minutes later, Qormi created another opportunity after some delightful interchanges with Borg making a fine save from a Pereira header.

On the half hour mark, Spiteri halted some of Qormi’s momentum when he took advantage of some slack defending to shoot beneath Farrugia but Scicluna again cleared the danger.

Perhaps, Ħamrun’s first-half display did not merit a goal but they found the net when Farrugia punched Calabretta’s effort with the ball finishing in the path of Massimo Grima who blasted home.

Qormi restored the lead on 63 minutes, thanks to Nwoke. A superb cross from Bello Osagie fell between Gacesa and Fenech allowing Nwoke to force his way through before dispatching the finish past the motionless Borg.

But any hopes for Qormi of using that goal as a foothold in the game were soon ended.

After 72 minutes, Ħamrun’s Polli hit the crossbar with a long-distance effort. Few moments later, the Swiss delivered a teasing cross but Rupert Mangion failed to connect.

But Ħamrun were not to be denied as four minutes later, Kevin Sammit collected a short pass from the left by Ribeiro and with time and space to shoot, he fired superbly into the net.

As the Spartans fans were celebrating a deserved point the fourth official’s board went up for four minutes of stoppage times – so it was obvious that Jesmond Zammit’s men were disappointed when Calabretta tripped Pereira inside the area.

From the ensuing penalty kick, Joseph Farrugia buried the ball behind Borg.

Ħamrun Spartans: O. Borg-6 (90 A. Cassar), N. Gacesa-4.5, M. Grima-6, R. Mangion-6 (72 Toneto Porcari), R. Fenech-5, A. Ribeiro-6 (85 L. Agius), K. Sammut-6.5, M. Gauci-6, C. Polli-6.5, G. Spiteri-6, G. Calabretta-7.

Qormi: M. Farrugia-6, J. Chetcuti-6 (80 D. Cachia), R. Sammut-6, M. Bartolo-7.5, J. Farrugia-7, L. Sciberras-7, K. Scicluna-7.5, J. Pereira da Silva-7, S. Wellman-5, A. Bello Osagie-7.5 (72 J. Chetcuti), D. Nwoke-6.5 (90 G. Buttigieg).

Referee: Marco Borg.

Yellow cards: Bartolo, Mangion, Nwoke, Ribero, Gacesa.

BOV player of the match: Matthew Bartolo (Qormi).

Attendances: 1,497.