Fgura United 2
Rabat Ajax 1
Two goals in the space of a minute gave Fgura a well-earned victory over Rabat Ajax at the Centenary Stadium yesterday.
The win lifted Fgura over Rabat in the standings as the latter suffered their third successive league defeat.
Fgura started brightly and on 15 minutes they almost took the lead but Ricardo Costa fired over from just inside the area.
Rabat’s response produced an opener two minutes later.
David Azzopardi picked Brandon Micallef who dribbled past Vukovic before lobbing the ball over goalkeeper Bartolo.
Fgura were unlucky not to draw level on 23 minutes when Quincy Bregman saw his effort coming off the bar with Rabat goalkeeper Jamie Azzopardi well beaten.
On the half hour a Wayne Borg shot just missed the target.
Rabat almost made it 2-0 on 37 minutes when Chiedozie raced into the area but the forward’s shot lacked power to trouble Spiteri.
Both teams kept pushing forward and on 39 minutes Azzopardi effected a fine save to keep out Iro Curmi’s shot.
Fgura pulled level a minute from half-time. From a corner action, defender Joseph Caruana anticipated his marker to head the ball into the net.
Rabat were rattled and in stoppage time they conceded again when Simon Shead’s shot was pushed onto the bar by Azzopardi and from the rebound Curmi tapped home.
Fgura were a rejuvenated side now and after the interval they continued to hold the initiative against the Magpies.
On the hour mark Shead’s effort from inside the area was saved by Azzopardi.
Ramon Zammit’s men continued to create goalscoring opportunities.
On 73 minutes Ruiz Perez saw his header cleared off the line by Shaun Gauci.
Shead should have killed off Rabat’s hopes but he drove the ball wide with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Fgura were almost made to pay for these misses as a minute from time Rabat came close to saving a point but Ruiz Perez just missed the target from a corner.
Fgura: B. Bartolo, Q. Bregman, D. Vukovic, J. Bugeja, S. Escobar (F. Arriagada), J. Farrugia, R. Costa, I. Curmi, J.R. Perez, L. Vella Critien, S. Shead (K. Pace).
Rabat: J. Azzopardi; S. Gauci, B. Micallef, N. Caruana, W. Borg, C. Vella, (F. Azzopardi) J. Caruana, D. Falzon (E. Scicluna), A. Azzopardi, L. Chiedozie, D. Azzopardi.
Referee: Marco Borg.
Man of the match: Ricardo Costa (Fgura).