Victories for St George’s over Hibernians are rare but there were a few times when this derby went the way of the Cospicuans.

One such game which old-timers from the old city will surely remember was played on December 9, 1945.

Adhering to the same formation which had performed so well the previous weekend against league leaders Valletta, the Saints defeated Hibernians 2-0 and, what’s more, they fully deserved their victory.

In the first half, Hibs played with the wind behind them but the Saints funnelled back into their area and defended their backs as if their very lives depended on it.

Hibs applied tremendous pressure on the Saints’ defence. They hammered constantly at Pearson’s goal but the Saints’ goalkeeper defied the odds with a number of first-class saves.

As the first half ebbed away Hibs became desperate. On and on they came but when referee Pisani sounded his whistle for half-time the scoresheet was still blank.

After the break the situation was reversed.

It was now the Saints’ turn to attack and Hibs were forced back into their own half.

St George’s grew in stature but in contrast the Hibs’ defence became more and more unsteady. One exception was centre-half Harry Ear who could always be found in the thick of the battle.

Twenty minutes of the second half went by before Reno Azzo-pardi capped a fine afternoon by beating Hibs keeper Harry Edwards from close range.

This goal awakened Hibs to their responsibility. Throwing caution to the wind they went forward in search of an equaliser.

The Saints’ goal went through a harrowing time but a quarter of an hour later in a rare counter-attack Gatt snapped a pass from the right and catching the Hibs’ defence spread-eagled he fired a low shot which left Edwards staring.

To their credit, Hibs never stopped trying. They battled on but to tell the truth they never looked like scoring.

The final whistle was greeted with indescribable scenes of celebration from the Saints’ fans and the party continued that evening in Cospicua.

As luck would have it, the day before the game with Hibernians should have been the feast of the Immaculate Conception. However, that day it rained heavily and the feast was postponed to the next day which happened to be a Sunday.

Therefore, faith presented the Cospicuans with another reason to celebrate.

That year was the first peace-time occasion for the Cospicuans to celebrate their feast and they flocked to their city from all over Malta where they had been scattered by the war.

Of course, I do not remember anything of that great occasion but I heard it all many times from my grandparents, and from my mother and uncles who were all born and bred in Cospicua.

The city of Cospicua has never seen bigger celebrations as that evening and in the midst of all those celebrations there were those 11 heroes who earlier in the afternoon had defeated the great ‘enemy’ Hibernians.

The 11 Saints’ players on that day were Pearson, Darmanin, Mizzi, Bartolo, J. Paris, Attard, L. Paris, Degiorgio, Azzopardi, Romolo and Gatt.