Pietà’s Gabriel loses his balance following a tackle from Albert Bruce. Photo: Paul Zammit Cutajar

Pietà Hotspurs 0
Qormi 0

David Cassar was the best player for Pietà Hotspurs yesterday as the talented keeper produced two crucial saves to keep Qormi at bay and earn his team a hard-earned point.

Anderson Quatrochi Santos had Qormi’s best chance of the match but his 20-metre shot in the second half was stopped in style by Cassar.

It was a rare opening in a tight game of few chances.

The final stalemate did little to boost either side’s position in the standings as Qormi remained fifth on 15 points while Pietà are still in the drop zone, second from bottom on nine points.

However, it was clear at the final whistle that the Hotspurs were the happier side.

Their coach, Noel Coleiro, will have been delighted with the defensive organisation and resilience shown by his players even though Pieta lacked the bite in attack des-pite fielding three strikers with Rafael Zacarias, Claudio Frances and Gabriel in a fluid 4-3-3 system.

Francis and Terence Agius were in the Hotspurs starting formation as Coleiro made two changes from the 4-0 defeat to Naxxar Lions. Cleaven Cassar and Nikola Tasic had to settle for a place on the bench.

Qormi set out in an attack-minded 4-3-1-2 module as Ryan Micallef retained his place up front alongside Alfred Effiong with the returning Frank Temile playing behind the strikers.

Qormi did most of the running in the match but found it hard to turn their superior possession into goal chances. When they did, they found Cassar in top form to stop their efforts.

On 12 minutes, Anderson sliced open the Pietà defence with a perfect ball to Temile but the latter lacked composure in front of goal and the Pieta keeper was alert to deny Qormi from opening the score early on.

There was little in the way of creative football for much of the next 15 minutes until Francis broke the boredom with a thunderbolt that flew over the bar.

Seven minutes from the break, Xavier did well to stay on his feet and beat the challenge of Mauricio Mazzetti as he ran into the Qormi box but the Brazilian forward drove wide from an inviting position.

The start of the second half was as uneventful as the first 45 minutes. Coleiro soon introduced Malcolm Licari at the expense of Kyle Cesare.

Qormi created another clear-cut opportunity on the hour when Effiong’s shot took a deflection off Leonardo Fortunato and crashed against the woodwork.

However, that failed to spark the match into life.

On 76 minutes, Anderson created a chance out of nothing as he stole possession in the centre before unleashing a fierce shot towards the far post but Cassar leapt to his left to beat the ball away.

It was the last meaningful action as Qormi were left frustrated by their second consecutive draw after a run of three victories which had propelled them to the top positions.

Pietà Hotspurs
D. Cassar-7.5, C. Attard-5, L. Fortunato-7, C. Grech-5, J. Pisani-6 (66 O. Anonam-5), T. Agius-5, K. Cesare-5 (52 M. Licari-5), R. Rodrigues-6, R. Xavier Zacarias-6, C. Francis-6 (80 N. Tasic), Gabriel-6.

Qormi
M. Farrugia-6, A. Bruce-5, M. Mazzetti-7, S. Agius-5 (61 B. Bondin-5), A. Effiong-6 (72 P. Viggiani), F. Temile-6, R. Micallef-5, E. Vella-5, D. Pisani-5.5, J. Bondin-5, Anderson-7.

Referee: Alan Mario Sant.

Yellow cards: Mazzetti, Fortunato, Bruce, Gabriel.

BOV player of the match: Leonardo Fortunato (Pietà Hotspurs).