Ħamrun Spartans 2
Zerafa 33; Grima 87;
Valletta 8
Mifsud 4, 13 pen, 14, 16, 51, 73; Fenech 8; Denni 25;
This was much more than a remarkable scoreline attained by potentially one of the finest Maltese teams in the last three decades.
This was an emphatic statement of intent from the champions who, with their first-round encounter with bitter rivals Hibernians around the corner, turned on the style to thump Ħamrun Spartans 8-2.
Having scored a quickfire brace to breach Melita’s dogged resistance in Valletta’s previous outing, Michael Mifsud showed why Valletta president Victor Sciriha made such a bold effort to sign him as the speedy striker helped himself to six goals.
Revelling in Valletta’s superb football and his opponents’ woeful defending, Mifsud demonstrated all the attributes that make him such a prolific forward, scoring four goals in the first 16 minutes before adding another two in the second half.
Any hopes that the Spartans would revive some of their old spirit to give their old adversaries a tough ride fizzled out by the 16th minute as Valletta’s whirlwind start left their opponents dazed and confused.
While Mifsud took centre-stage, this was a magnificent collective display by Valletta with Ryan Fenech and Roderick Fenech also delivering excellent performances.
It was the sort of display that had the Valletta fans chanting ‘We love you Miller’ as the English coach is fast transforming the star-studded champions into a goal machine.
Miller’s starting XI showed three changes from the 5-1 win over Melita. Defender Ricardo was absent after failing to recover from the injury that kept him out of the midweek friendly against Libyan club Al Ahly.
Ricardo was replaced by Dyson Falzon while William Barbosa and Mifsud returned to City’s formation after coming on as substitutes in the Melita game.
The absence of Ricardo obliged Miller to effect a string of positional changes as Steve Borg partnered Jonathan Caruana at the heart of the defence, Roderick Briffa filled in at right-back and Falzon replaced Ian Azzopardi at left-back.
Stefan Sultana, the Ħamrun coach, was without Angel Yoshev. Terence Vella played at the tip of the Spartans’ formation but Sultana’s men were swept off their feet by Valletta’s blistering start.
Valletta put their noses in front after only four minutes. Fastening on to an accurate pass from Denni, Mifsud outpaced the Spartans defence before sending the ball through Anthony Curmi’s legs and into the net.
Three minutes later, Valletta increased their lead. Fenech illuminated the stadium with an acrobatic volley from the edge of the box that gave Curmi no chance.
Valletta’s onslaught continued. Curmi produced a good save to keep out Mifsud’s screamer.
The Spartans were let off the hook but not for long. Their early toils came to the fore when Bulgarian defender Adrian Ivanov tried to shepherd the ball to Curmi but the latter misjudged the flight of the ball. Leandro raced past Curmi who reacted by bringing down the Brazilian striker. Referee Malcolm Spiteri pointed to the spot and Mifsud despatched his shot past Curmi.
“We want more” chorused the Valletta fans and their pleas were answered immediately. Mifsud completed his hat-trick with an easy tap-in from Falzon’s cross.
A minute later, Mifsud was at it again, hitting home after receiving from Briffa.
The out-of-sorts Spartans had a chance but Gianluca Calabretta volleyed wide after being picked out by Nikolay Bozhov.
Some of the football served up by Valletta in these early stages was vintage stuff. On one occasion, Briffa combined with Mifsud to set up Denni but the latter’s shot was fisted away by Curmi.
There was no reprieve for the confused Spartans. Close to the 25th minute mark, Barbosa’s piledriver cannoned off the bar but the loose ball flew to Denni who conjured up a magnificent shot that had the better of the helpless Curmi.
It could have become worse for the Spartans but for Curmi who blocked Denni’s grounder. Gabriel then had an effort hooked off the line by Roderick Fenech as the champions pressed for more.
The Spartans managed to pull one back on 33 minutes when Daniel Zerafa, who had just come on for Vella, concluded a flowing move, involving Calabretta and David Camilleri, with a rasping shot.
Zerafa’s goal failed to break Valletta’s momentum as the Whites continued to create a plethora of chances. Curmi repelled a strong drive from Barbosa and Mifsud blasted over from point blank.
In the closing stages of the first half, Barbosa again rattled the bar with one of his trademark thunderbolts.
Six minutes into the second half, Valletta struck their seventh goal and Mifsud his fifth. Profiting from a short backpass, Mifsud rifled past Curmi.
‘Ahna haqqna monument’ (We deserve a monument), yelled a dejected Spartans fans, one of a few who stayed on despite his team’s predicament.
On 56 minutes, Curmi blocked a low effort from Fenech and Denni curled wide from the rebound.
Unsurprisingly, Valletta eased up as the second half wore on. Yet, Mifsud spurned a great chance when hitting over from point blank after getting on the end of Falzon’s cross.
Mifsud soon made amends as, with 17 minutes left, the prolific striker got his sixth with another close-range attempt from Gabriel’s assist.
Massimo Grima had the consolation of getting his name on the scoresheet as his shot from the distance stunned Yenz Cini, who had replaced Manuel Bartolo.
The barrage of chances continued. Curmi denied Denni and Leandro’s cross just eluded Mifsud before referee Spiteri put the Spartans out of their misery.
Ħamrun Spartans
A. Curmi-5, A. Borg-4 (66 L. Grech-4), D. Camilleri-5 (43 R. Brightwell-4), M. Grima-6, T. Vella-5 (28 D. Zerafa-6), G. Calabretta-6, A. Ivanov-4, R. Fenech-6.5, L. Vitanov-4, A. Vergilov-4, N. Bozhov-4.
Valletta
M. Bartolo-6 (74 Y. Cini), R. Briffa-7 (55 K. Magro-6), D. Falzon-7, J. Caruana-6.5, S. Borg-6.5, W. Barbosa-7, R. Fenech-8 (58 E. Agius-6.5), Gabriel-7, Leandro-6, Denni-7, M. Mifsud-9.
Referee: Malcolm Spiteri.
Yellow card: Curmi.
BOV player of the match: Michael Mifsud (Valletta).
Attendance: 1,187.