Qormi sweep Mqabba aside

MQABBA-1, QORMI-4

Qormi brought an end to their negative run with an emphatic 4-1 win over Mqabba in today's first match at the Victor Tedesco Stadium.

With only three games to go before the end of the first phase, Qormi were faced with a must-win scenario to keep their Championship Pool hopes alive and they responded with a bold performance and a win that narrowed their gap on the sixth-placed Balzan Youths to one point.

Inside the opening two minutes, Qormi captain Joseph Farrugia produced a curling free-kick but his effort lack the power to trouble Mqabba goalkeeper Kris Calleja.

Qormi's better start produced a breakthrough after eight minutes. Running on to Farrugia's pass, Joseph Chetcuti broke clear in the inside-left channel but his cross-shot was partially saved by Calleja. Jorginho was on hand to tap the ball home.

Mqabba looked to have suffered another setback when Qormi were awarded a penalty. Referee Paul Caruana deemed that Calleja barged into Jorginho after the Brazilian had sent his volley over the bar following a poor clearance by Grima.

Calleja also received a booking for his foul but he made amends with an excellent leap to stop Farrugia's penalty drive.

Late in the first half, Farrugia's first-time volley following a corner action sailed wide of the near post.

In the opening three minutes of the second half, Marlon Briffa surged past the stationary Vincent Kouadio but the Mqabba winger's shot was wide.

At the other end, Jorginho got behind the Mqabba defence but Calleja dashed off his line to parry away the Qormi striker's attempt.

Qormi doubled their advantage seven minutes into the second half when Jorginho supplied a precise cross from the left and Jonathan Bondin guided the ball past Calleja.

Farrugia then had a free-kick stopped by Calleja as Qormi stayed in control. They should have made it 3-0 when Farrugia sent Jorginho clear but the Brazilian picked the wrong option as he tried to pass to Chetcuti instead of shooting and the Mqabba defence cleared.

Mqabba's defensive problems were evident when Qormi made it 3-0 with 18 minutes left, Jorginho chipping the ball over Calleja after getting on the end of a through-ball from midfield.

To make matters worse for Mqabba, they ended up with 10 men after Julian Briffa was unable to continue because of injury and coach Clive Mizzi had already effected the three substitutions.

Still Mqabba had a good chance to pull one back but John Nwoba failed to make contact with Bojan Mamic's cross.

With 10 minutes remaining, Mqabba reduced the deficit. Marko Potezica broke clear on the counter and centred for Mazzitelli who failed to control the ball but Nwoba swooped to hit home.

Mqabba suffered another blow though when Mark Anthony Psaila was dismissed for two bookable offences late on.

In stoppage time, Qormi rounded the scoring, substitute Caio lifting the ball over Calleja after receiving from Triston Caruana.

Jorginho was voted BOV player of the match.