Hibernians 6
Dias 17, 45+1; Grima 30 og; Herrera 38, 48; Edison 45 pen;
Mqabba 1
Mamic 21;
Hibernians produced a devastating attacking display yesterday to crush a helpless Mqabba side.
There was never any doubt as to who would leave Corradino with the three points as the depleted Mqabba could not cope with the pace of the Paolites who simply tore their opponents’ defence apart with Marcelo Dias and Edward Herrera bagging a brace each.
Victory lifted the Paolites to within three points of leaders Valletta who face Floriana today. More importantly, this performance gave Hibs a confidence booster ahead of the start of the second phase where they will be looking to challenge the Citizens for the crown.
Mqabba did try to make a fight out of it but the absences of goalkeeper Kris Calleja, David Fenech, Mauro Bonnici, Mark Anthony Psaila and Julian Briffa did little to help their cause.
Hibs started strongly. After a period of sustained pressure, Andrew Cohen released Dias who beat the offside trap and chipped the ball over keeper Franklin Azzopardi.
Mqabba hit back and Hibs keeper Mario Muscat was forced to dive to his right to push away Marko Potezica’s long-range drive.
From the flag-kick, taken by Claudio Calleja, Bojan Mamic anticipated his marker to beat Muscat at the near post for a shock equaliser.
It did not take Hibs long to regain the lead, albeit in fortuitous circumstances, as Clayton Failla’s menacing corner looked to have taken a deflection off Pierre Grima on its way into the net.
Mqabba almost levelled a minute later as Muscat partially saved Mazzitelli’s free-kick and from the rebound, David Azzopardi was again denied by the Hibs goalkeeper.
Mqabba paid dearly for this miss as six minutes later Edison burst through before setting up Herrera who headed home.
Dias’s incursions on the left were hurting Mqabba and on the stroke of half-time, the Brazilian did all the damage when he served Edison who was upended by Branislav Timotic. Edison picked himself up to drill his shot past Azzopardi.
Dias continued to torment Mqabba and a minute into stoppage time he ran excellently to meet Edison’s pass before rifling the ball in.
The goals kept coming as, after the restart, Edison nodded the ball into the path of Herrera who stabbed home from routine distance.
A curious incident happened five minutes into the second half when referee Alan Mario Sant noticed that Cohen’s shirt showed no.20 on its back instead of the regular no.10 he wore at the start of the match. The Hibs playmaker was ordered to change his top.
On the hour, Azzopardi charged out of goal to block the goalbound Dias and a minute later Cohen headed over from close in as Hibs held command.
Mqabba were a spent force but they tried to make the scoreline look more respectable. On 78 minutes, substitute John Nwoba ran past two defenders but his low shot was pushed away for a corner by Muscat.
Hibernians
M. Muscat-6, J. Pearson-6 (46 P. Anizoba-6), A. Xuereb-6.5, R. Soares-6.5, J. Vandelanoitte-6.5, B. Kristensen-7, A. Cohen-7, E. Herrera-8 (69 S. Pisani-6), M. Dias-8, C. Failla-7 (78 R. Camilleri), L. Edison-7.
Mqabba
F. Azzopardi-4, C. Micallef-4, P. Grima-4 (48 R. Duca-5), R. Sammut-4, B. Timotic-4, M. Potezica-6, D. Azzopardi-5, C. Calleja-5, B. Mamic-6, T. Mazzitelli-5 (78 J. Nwoba), M. Briffa-5 (67 J.P. Muscat-5).
Referee: Alan Mario Sant.
Yellow cards: Soares; Timotic.
BOV player of the match: Marcelo Dias (Hibs).