A strong performance by Valletta McDonald’s tore to shreds a weak Exiles Jet Freight to leave the team from Sliema stranded in terms of a decisive and morale-sapping defeat.

The City team, without Michael Cordina, played by far the best match this season, taking off powerfully and ending much in the same way.

Their excellent extra man scoring rate, backed by the potent Russian Dmitri Kholod, scorer of seven goals, had their opponents in all sorts of trouble and unable to respond despite the nap-hand of goals netted by Milos Vukicevic.

The City team had other main strikers, Michael Spiteri Staines and veteran Charlie Zammit who shared eight goals.

But then, it was a very positive collective showing which underlines the potential of Stephen Rizzo’s team, never mind the opposition they faced yesterday.

Except for a brief moment in the second session when Exiles trimmed the gap to 7-4 there was no semblance of a contest.

Good early saves from Ian Bugeja who repeated a steady performance after the last match, may have given Exiles a false sense of confidence.

But their progression graph has unfortunately remained flat, with yesterday’s result even showing a downward trend.

Valletta had been the masters.

After running leaders Marsa-xlokk very close in their previous match, Ta’ Xbiex Amigos did much better yesterday when they defeated a disappointing Marsascala Nutrition Empire in emphatic fashion as the 14-7 scoreline shows.

Tactically, Ta’ Xbiex were almost faultless, with the Hungarian Gabor Kovacs for the South seasiders being well-shadowed throughout.

The team has now moved to within three points of Marsascala but more ominous for the champions is the gap between them and the neighbouring leaders.

It has remained on six points with today’s game in hand for Ian Azzopardi’s side.

Ta’ Xbiex 14
Marsascala 7

(5-2, 4-2, 1-2, 4-1)

Ta’ Xbiex: J. Micallef, A. Maklari 4, A. Camenzuli 1, B. Grech 1, E. Meli 2, K. Mock 2, M. Mifsud, J. Zerafa, Gregory, G. Attard, D. Fenech 2, R. Attard 2, J. Tanti.

Marsascala: K. Schembri, J.C. Cutajar 1, J. Busuttil, C. Bonello, L. Grixti 2 G. Kovacs 1, J. Cremona 1, S. Micallef 1, M. Pace 1, D. Cassar, O. Zammit, B. Dougall.

Referees: R. Spiteri, G. Nicolosi.

Exiles 10
Valletta 21

(1-4, 3-5, 4-6 2-6)

Exiles: I. Bugeja, J. Rizzo Naudi 1, S. Vassallo 1, D. Pace Lupi 1, D. Borg Millo, E. Gravina, S. Gravina, K. Griscti, N. Paris, A. Bianchi 2, G. Ciappara, M. Vukicevic 5, K. Lanzon.

Valletta: R. Sciortino, J. Spiteri Staines 2, A. Agius, M. Rizzo 1, A. Mifsud 2, R. Mock, D. Paolella, N. Bonello Ghio, D. Spiteri, C. Zammit 4, D. Kholod 7, A. Zarb Cousin 1, M. Spiteri Staines 4.

Referees: A. Goncharenko, A. Pascucci.

Playing today
First Division: 16.45 Marsaxlokk Fischer vs Otters Nivea.
Premier Division: 18.00 sirens Ritter sport vs Neptunes Grimaldi; 19.15 Sliema Betsson vs San Ġiljan Salini Resort.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.