Pietà Hotspurs coach Noel Coleiro is upbeat about his team’s chances of avoiding the drop from the BOV Premier League as the newly-promoted side are gearing up for their first season in the top flight after an absence of six years.
The Hotspurs were promoted to the Premier League last season after topping the Division One championship on 58 points... 13 clear of nearest rivals Żebbuġ Rangers.
Coleiro has kept faith with most of the local players who helped the team seal promotion as goalkeeper David Cassar prolonged his loan stay with another year from Tarxien Rainbows while Malcolm Licari and Luke Micallef joined from Rabat Ajax and Melita, respectively.
The Hotspurs, however, made wholesale changes to their foreign players’ line-up bringing in Argentina midfielder Claudio Frances and four Brazilians – defender Leonardo Fortunato, midfielder Gabriel Da Silva, formerly of Qormi, and strikers Rafael Xavier and Rafael Rodri-gues.
Ricardo Costa, who was on the books of Pietà in 2013-14, was expected to don the Pieta colours again this season but he returned home due to family reasons.
Coleiro’s optimism is fuelled by the Hotspurs’ positive performances in the Malta Summer Cup where they went on to lift the trophy following a 3-1 win over Mosta in the final.
“I am really encouraged with what I’ve seen and the contribution of my players in pre-season,” Coleiro said yesterday.
“The squad have worked their socks off in training. Unfortunately, we lost Rafael Rodrigues through injury for much of Summer Cup. But, his absence opened the way for a few of our U-19 players who performed pretty well in the tournament. They will be included in the seniors squad for the new season.
“The Malta Summer Cup showed Pietà are in good shape but the real business starts this weekend when we face Birkirkara.
“This year the Premier League is being played on a new format. Being in charge of a small club I preferred the old way as now in the final round we also have to play against the top six teams.
“Having said that I remain hopeful and positive.
“At Pietà we have a balanced squad. We can hold our own in the Premier League and stay away from the troubled positions in the table.”
Joe Sammut, the affable Pietà Hotspurs FC president, said the team’s return to the Premier League owes much to their bold stance of investing heavily in the nursery sector.
“I have been club president here for the past four years and since my first day in charge I elevated the nursery on top of our agenda,” Sammut said.
“We worked patiently in this sector and our initiatives are finally bearing fruit. We now have three players included in the U-19 national team and three others selected in the U-21s.
“Our position will remain the same this season as we believe that it’s the right formula to guarantee Pietà Hotspurs a sound future.”
Jorginho joins Hibs
Hibernians have strengthened their forward line with the capture of striker Jorginho.
The Paolites said in a statement that the Brazilian had reached an agreement with the club and will now join Branko Nisevic’s squad ahead of Hibs’ opening league clash against Floriana on Saturday.
Last season, Jorginho played for Qormi where he managed six goals, helping the Yellow Blacks avoid relegation and reach the FA Trophy semi-finals.