St George’s 0
Dingli Swallows 2

Dingli Swallows avenged their first-round defeat to St George’s to put another dent in the Cospicua team’s hopes of beating the drop.

Coming from a 4-2 loss to arch-rivals Vittoriosa Stars in the derby, St George’s failed to bounce back as they remained bottom of the table on 13 points, five behind Dingli.

For the Swallows, Brazilian forward Carlos Toneto Porcari and Chris Azzopardi, who scored his team’s two goals, were in superb form up front while Leontiev Konda never stopped running.

Dingli enjoyed more possession in the first half but found it difficult to break St George’s down.

After just three minutes, Bobby Giorev’s team had a Porcari free-kick that finished just over the crossbar. The next chance worthy of a mention came on 22 minutes when Porcari headed just wide from Konda’s corner.

St George’s responded on 26 minutes when Gary Inguanez’s free-kick caused havoc inside the Dingli area and Jonathan Ruiz’s drive was deflected for a corner.

Ten minutes from half-time, Leonardo Rocha Dos Santos hit just wide from the edge of the area after good work by Luiz.

Two minutes before the break, Rio Micallef played a good pass to Porcari who was one-on-one with Ryan Marmara but the St George’s goalkeeper did well to push the Brazilian’s effort away for a corner.

Dingli continued to dictate matters in the second half.

After 10 minutes, Porcari received from Reuben Vella but his fierce shot brought a great save from Marmara who was alert again to deal with Konda’s drive on the hour.

St George’s had to wait until the 68th minute to record an attempt on Dingli’s goal. Ruiz’s free-kick was saved by Jeffrey Farrugia, the Dingli goalkeeper.

Dingli managed to take the lead 15 minutes from time when, in a fast counter-attack, Kurt Pace burst clear on the left before delivering an inch-perfect cross for Azzopardi who slotted the ball home from close range.

With five minutes left, St George’s were unlucky when another Ruiz drive from outside the area beat Farrugia but the ball grazed the post.

After Marmara denied Jonathan Sapiano following a Porcari cross, Dingli sealed their win a minute into stoppage time. Porcari set up Azzopardi who lobbed the ball over the onrushing Marmara.

St George’s: R. Marmara, D. Zahra, L. Rocha Dos Santos, E. Sevasta, G. Inguanez, H. Schembri, R. Boutahir, A. Bonello (A. Mercieca), E. Amaira, K. Grech (A. Farrugia), J. Ruiz.

Dingli: J. Farrugia, F. Owusu, K. Pace, R. Micallef, L. Konda, K. Formosa, E. Farrugia, C. Porcari, R. Vella (J. Sapiano), R. Briffa (J. Pace), C. Azzopardi.

Referee: Sandro Spiteri.

Best player: Chris Azzopardi (Dingli).

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