Things are looking up for St Andrew’s.

Now back in the race to avoid relegation after bringing in a host of reinforcements last month, St Andrew’s are also hitting the right notes off the pitch by luring a new sponsor to their fold.

Evolution Gaming were yesterday unveiled as the Saints’ new partners at a news conference during which the Premier League club presented their January signings.

Denis Guerra, the St Andrew’s team manager who also heads Talent11, the football agency that oversees the running of the club’s teams in all Malta FA and Youth FA competitions, has vowed that the Saints will keep fighting to stay in the Premier League.

St Andrew’s head into their opening third-round game against leaders Valletta on Sunday in bottom place but their revival of late has resurrected hopes of keeping their elite status as they are only four points away from the play-off place.

Guerra admitted that his initial assessment of the Premier League was incorrect, moreso with the increase in the number of foreigners to seven, adding that St Andrew’s had to wait until the winter transfer window to address shortcomings in the squad.

St Andrew’s began the season with an inexperienced team as their intention was to bank on home-grown talent and young foreigners but they had to change policy after failing to gain a point in 19 games.

“At the start of the season, we had a dream as we believed a lot in young players,” Guerra told re-porters, yesterday.

“I shared this dream with (former coach) Wayne Attard and the idea was to have young Maltese and young foreigners but I didn’t know the level of Maltese football... that was my mistake.

“When we realised that things were not working, it was a bit late but when we had the opportunity to change in January, we did it and the results are better.”

The new foreigners have left the desired impact as the likes of Spaniards Jonatan Perez Cuestra, Enmy Manuel Beltre, South Korean defender Che Bong Won, signed on loan from Czech club Slovan Liberec, and Nigerians Frances Onwudinjo and Lucky Oseghale have brought a lot of quality to the St Andrew’s squad.

Guerra said young left-back Jordan Williams, who came through the Southampton Academy, has been released and also confirmed that Matteo Desira Buttigieg’s transfer to Birkirkara is still on but the Stripes agreed to loan him back to St Andrew’s last summer.

Josè Borg, who was promoted to first-team coach following the departure of Attard, sees little difference between St Andrew’s and fellow relegation strugglers Qormi and Naxxar Lions but added that his team may have a slight edge at present on the back of their positive results in the last four weeks.

With the last two teams going down automatically and the third-bottom contesting a play-off against the third-placed team in the Division One table, Borg said St Andrew’s were aiming to earn a place in the end-of-season decider to give themselves a chance of staying up.

Andres Rengifo, head of operations at Evolution Gaming in Malta, said St Andrew’s matched the company’s core values as well as their pursuit of excellence and these were the main reasons behind their decision to sponsor the club for the next three years.

Established in 2006, Evolution Gaming is one of the world’s leading providers of video-streamed live casino solutions.

Their hub in Malta, which was opened in 2014, is the company’s second central studio in Europe.

“St Andrew’s are dedicated to achieving excellence,” Rengifo said.

“We also chose to sponsor the club to further embed ourselves in the Maltese community as we currently employ between 350-400 people here and close to 2,000 employees in all.

“We are also looking to increase the workforce in Malta.”

While the Evolution Gaming sponsorship has further enhanced the feelgood factor at St Andrew’s, the club has been through some difficult times over the past few weeks.

Guerra yesterday paid tribute to David Bianchi, the club’s long-serving general secretary who passed away recently, and expressed solidarity with defender Eloy Nkene who is grieving the death of his younger brother.

Nkene has been given permission to spend a few days with his family in Spain after his nine-year-old brother lost his life in a traffic accident last weekend.

BOV Premier League programme

Saturday

Hibs Stadium
Balzan vs Pembroke - 14.00
Hibernians vs Qormi - 16.00

Tedesco Stadium
Floriana vs Naxxar - 14.00
Tarxien vs Sliema - 16.15

Sunday

National Stadium
Birkirkara vs Mosta - 14.00
Valletta vs St Andrew’s - 16.00