Valletta 5
Bajada 14; Briffa 32; Elford-Alliyu 38; Nafti 70; Montebello 89;
Mosta 0
Valletta offered a timely reminder of their undoubted quality when they crushed Mosta to go second in the BOV Premier League standings.
It was a classy performance from the champions as they tore Mosta apart with their quick-passing game and constant movement off the ball.
The Citizens never gave Mosta a chance to settle in the game, effectively wrapping up the points by the 38th-minute mark when they were already three goals to the good.
Their strong start all but abolished any hopes the Blues might have had of repeating their first-round performance when they beat the champions 1-0.
The second half was a mere formality but Valletta managed to add two more goals to ease to a comfortable victory that lifted them above Birkirkara into second place, 12 points adrift of runaway leaders Hibernians.
Although tougher tests await Valletta, yesterday’s display will surely lift the spirits in the City clan as the team looked much sharper in terms of tactical organisation with the addition to City’s technical staff of coach Ivan Zammit starting to pay the desired dividends.
The Whites were forced to make do without team captain Ryan Fenech who was not included in the 18-man squad, presumably due to injury.
His place in midfield was taken by Portuguese Hugo Faria.
Shaun Bajada started on the left flank with Raphael Kooh-Sohna having to settle for a place on the bench.
Peter Smith, the newly-appointed coach of Mosta, welcomed back Dyson Falzon, who filled the void left by Cameroonian wing-back Rodriguez Ekani, while Kurt Zammit was handed a starting berth in midfield at the expense of Pedrinho who dropped to the bench.
Valletta were soon on the offensive.
After 10 minutes, Roderick Briffa lined up a shot from the edge of the area but his effort was easily blocked by Mosta goalkeeper Omar Borg.
Borg was helpless four minutes later when Hamza Barry picked out Bajada just outside the area and the Valletta midfielder hit a swerving shot that flew into the top corner of the net.
Spurred by Bajada’s opener, Valletta kept pushing forward. On 18 minutes, Jonathan Caruana charged upfield and served Lateef Elford-Alliyu inside the area but the English forward miscued his shot with the ball finishing wide.
Mosta finally threatened on 20 minutes. They were awarded a free-kick and Falzon’s dipping cross eluded the City defence with the ball finishing into the path of Bojan Kaljevic who flicked the ball towards goal but in came Steve Borg to clear the danger.
Valletta soon regained the initiative and on 32 minutes they managed to double their lead.
Faria passed to Elford-Alliyu on the right and the City forward sent a low cross towards Briffa who poked the ball home from close in.
Three minutes later, Bajada sent a looping cross towards Barry but the Gambian midfielder’s header ended just over.
Eight minutes from the break, Borg had to be alert to turn away for a corner Abdelkarim Nafti’s shot from just outside the area.
Valletta all but sealed the points on 38 minutes. From a Bajada corner, Ian Azzopardi nodded the ball towards Elford-Alliyu who had little difficulty stabbing the ball into the net.
On the restart, Smith withdrew the subdued Kyle Frendo and roped in Matteus as he looked to add more punch to his team’s engine room.
Valletta kept up the pressure.
On 53 minutes, Barry showed great footwork to breeze past Adrian Borg before hitting a low cross that the Mosta goalkeeper only managed to divert towards Nafti who fluffed his shot.
Three goals to the good, Zammit opted to rest his key players as he withdrew Elford-Alliyu, who made way for Luke Montebello, while Luke Dimech came on for Ryan Camilleri.
Valletta’s unrelenting pressure was leaving little room for Mosta to manoeuvre.
On 65 minutes, Azzopardi embarked on a surging run on the left before putting in a low cross that flashed across the face of goal with Briffa arriving a second too late to make contact with the ball in front of a gaping goal.
But Valletta did add a fourth goal on 70 minutes.
Faria retrieved a short clearance on the edge of the area and hit a rasping drive that Borg could only push into the path of Nafti who blasted the ball into the net.
Montebello should have made it 5-0 two minutes later when the Malta U-21 striker was put through by Dimech but hit the side-netting with only Borg to beat.
Barry should have put his name on the scoresheet when he was released in the area by Nafti but the City midfielder was denied by Borg.
That was just a temporary reprieve for Mosta as Valletta hit their fifth a minute from the end.
Montebello was first to Nafti’s cross with the City striker doing just enough to push the ball into the net.
Valletta
N. Vella-6, J. Caruana-6.5, I. Azzopardi-6.5 (70 L. Cremona-6), S. Borg-6, R. Camilleri-6 (60 L. Dimech-6), H. Faria-7, R. Briffa-7, L. Elford-Alliyu-6 (56 L. Montebello-6), H. Barry-7, S. Bajada-7.5, A. Nafti-6.5.
Mosta
O. Borg-4, K. Magro-5.5, T. Farrugia-5, A. Borg-5, D. Falzon-5, N. Milovanovic-4.5, K. Zammit-5 (88 K. Pulo), M. Micallef-5 (78 Pedrinho), K. Frendo-5 (46 Matteus-4), D. Bueno-4.5, B. Kaljevic-5.
Referee: Chris Lautier.
BOV player of the match: Shaun Bajada (Valletta).
Attendance: 1,172.
Standings
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Hibernians | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 37 | 6 | 34 |
| Valletta | 12 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 24 | 7 | 22 |
| Birkirkara | 12 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 21 | 14 | 21 |
| Balzan | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 17 | 17 |
| Qormi | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 14 | 16 |
| Sliema W. | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 13 | 16 |
| Mosta | 12 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 25 | 16 |
| Floriana | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 25 | 14 |
| Tarxien R. | 12 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 14 | 16 | 12 |
| Pietà H. | 12 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 20 | 12 |
| Naxxar L. | 12 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 18 | 11 |
| Żebbuġ R. | 12 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 29 | 5 |