Valletta forward Denni (right) vies for possession with Mosta’s Tyrone Farrugia. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Mosta 0
Valletta 5
Denni 12, 29; Fenech 44; Montebello 52; Owonikoko 77;

Denni issued a reminder of his ability to win games for Valletta when he scored a first-half double to propel his team to a comfortable victory over Mosta as the Citizens increased the pressure on Birkirkara.

The nippy Brazilian had been left out of the Citizens’ last three matches but yesterday Denni showed how important he is to Valletta’s title charge with a sprightly performance that may well convince coach Andre Paus to bank on him for the next two matches against Balzan and Birkirkara as they look to wrest the title from the Stripes.

Denni’s inclusion, coupled with the individual brilliance of Alan Da Silva Souza, saw the Citizens outplay an out-of-sorts Mosta who were poor in defence as the City forwards ran riot in a one-sided encounter.

In the end, Valletta ran out comfortable winners to go top of the standings, one point ahead of Birkirkara who meet Sliema Wanderers this afternoon.

Valletta coach Paus was forced to reshuffle his defence as regular defenders Luke Dimech and Jonathan Caruana were both serving a one-match ban.

Steve Borg was moved in at the heart of defence alongside Ian Azzopardi who made a rare start with Roderick Briffa and Shaun Bajada patrolling the flanks. Denni was back but Hamza Barry was not in the 18-man squad.

Enrico Piccioni, the Mosta coach, was boosted by the return of striker Bojan Kaljevic who was back from suspension and partnered Gianmarco Piccioni upfront.

Omar Borg was in goal after missing the 4-0 defeat to Birkirkara while Christian Martins was also in the starting XI at the expense of Antonio Carrozza.

As expected, it was Valletta who made all the early running and drew first blood after 12 minutes. Alan Da Silva Souza created space for himself on the right before hitting a low cross that Borg failed to hold and in came Denni who bundled the ball into the net.

Mosta had a Martins effort from the edge of the area going wide and on 22 minutes Kaljevic picked Piccioni inside the area but the Italian headed over the bar.

Valletta doubled their lead on 29 minutes.

Abdelkarim Nafti fed Denni inside the box and the Brazilian hit a low shot past Borg.

Mosta looked jaded but their best chance came nine minutes from the break.

From a Martins free-kick, Borg’s attempted headed clearance fell into the path of Manolito Micallef who dived full stretch to head just past the upright.

On 40 minutes, Nafti should have extended Valletta’s lead when he rose high to meet Briffa’s cross but headed over with only the keeper to beat.

Valletta ended the first half in style as Ryan Fenech stole possession in midfield and spotting Borg out of his position, he chipped the ball over the keeper for a fine goal.

Mosta tried to get back into the match at the start of the second half. They protested for a penalty when Kaljevic fell after he was sandwiched between Azzopardi and Borg but the referee waved off his protests.

Two minutes later, Valletta all but wrapped up the points with a fourth goal.

Da Silva Souza hit a grounder towards goal and Luke Montebello was on hand to stab past Borg.

Piccioni tried to reshuffle his pack by sending on Diego Pereira, Kurt Zammit and Carrozza for Kaljevic, Ishmael Grech and Martins.

But it was Valletta who almost hit goal number five on 65 minutes when Da Silva Souza showed great technique to dribble past two defenders before serving Nafti who fired over.

With the points all but sewn up Paus hauled off the impressive Da Silva Souza and Montebello and gave a run out to Abayomi Owonikoko and Llywelyn Cremona.

Owonikoko took little time to leave his mark as 13 minutes from time, he was on the end of a Nafti pass before coolly sliding the ball past Borg.

Mosta
O. Borg-4, T. Farrugia-5, R. Ekani-5, M. Brincat-5, I. Grech-5 (55 K. Zammit-5), R. Grech-5.5, M. Micallef-4.5, C. Martins-5 (53 A. Carrozza-5), I. Zammit-4, B. Kaljevic-5 (57 D. Pereira-5), G. Piccioni-5.

Valletta
N. Revishvili-6, I. Azzopardi-6.5, S. Borg-6.5, R. Fenech-7, R. Briffa-6.5, L. Montebello-6.5 (66 L. Cremona), A. Da Silva Souza-7.5 (66 A. Owonikoko-6), S. Bajada-6, Denni-7 (81 J.P. Mifsud Triganza), I. Maisuradze-6, A. Nafti-6.5.

Referee: Fyodor Zammit.

Yellow cards: Brincat; Azzopardi; Kaljevic; R. Grech.

BOV Player of the match: Alan Da Silva Souza (Valletta).

Attendance: 1,318.