Mosta 4
Campagnoli 8; Mitev 36, 42 Aboulezz 59;
Ħamrun Spartans 1
Bozhov 71;
Mosta produced a superb first-half display of attacking football to sweep Ħamrun Spartans aside.
The Blues fully deserved the points yesterday as they were a cut above their opponents who struggled to cope with the pace of their opposing forwards.
Many of the headlines emanating from Mosta in this summer’s transfer forays concentrated on the capture of Daniel Bogdanovic, Justin Haber and Luke Dimech but in Danail Mitev, coach Steve D’Amato has signed a player of genuine quality.
He was the catalyst behind Mosta’s emphatic victory as the Bulgarian midfielder ran the show with his exquisite distribution of the ball.
The playmaker, who last season was on the books of Sliema Wanderers, also found time to put his name on the scoresheet with two fine strikes.
Mitev began the game operating from the right but was continually on the move, swapping positions with Firas Aboulezz and substitute Jonathan Bajada in a fluid front three.
Stefan Sultana rung the changes, making no fewer than five alterations to his line-up following his team’s toothless display against Tarxien. However, three were enforced upon the coach due to the suspension of defender Roderick Fenech and goalkeeper Andrea Cassar with Gianluca Calabretta ruled out by injury.
Aboulezz replaced the suspended Ryan Grech to provide the one change to Mosta’s starting line-up.
The Spartans were fastest out of the blocks as Terence Vella took just 22 seconds to prise open the opposing defence, only to see his grounder rattled the foot of the post.
But Ħamrun faded badly after the brightest of starts as D’Amato’s team gradually worked their way into the game.
Having been awarded a foul on Bogdanovic deep into the Ħamrun’s half, the former Blackpool player smashed a left-foot free-kick which bent over the wall but Anthony Curmi was up to the task to tip the ball over after eight minutes.
From the ensuing corner, Carlos Campagnoli profited from Ħamrun’s lax marking to direct a header past Curmi.
The outstanding Mitev deepened Ħamrun’s woe in the 36th minute, blasting a fulminating free-kick into the top left corner.
So one-sided became the clash that four minutes before the break, Mitev easily danced his way inside the Reds box, past a clutch of defenders, to roll his shot calmly beyond Curmi.
The second half began as the first ended. Substitute Bajada showed great strength to hold off Daniel Zerafa only see his delicate shot deflected into corner.
At half-time, Sultana introduced Ryan Spiteri for Richard Brightwell and the Reds substitute almost made an immediate impact, forcing Justin Haber to come out of his line to block his effort.
But there was no let-up in Mosta’s thrust as Aboulezz made it 4-0 in the 59th minute.
Mitev and Bajada carved open the Spartans defence with another neat passing movement down the right and the unmarked Aboulezz could only head the ball past Curmi.
Nikolay Bozhov was surprised as everyone else when he pulled one back after 70 minutes when he took Vella’s pass and curled it past Haber for a stylish consolation goal.
In the closing minutes, Mosta took their foot off the pedal as Bozhov began to show a few glimpse of his ability but without troubling Haber.
Mosta
J. Haber-6, F. Apap-6, B. Agius-6, M. Micallef-6.5, L. Dimech-6. D. Mitev-8.5, C. Campagnoli-7, D. Bogdanovic-4 (38 J. Bajada-7), O. Obiefule-5, O. Zongo-5 (80 E. Okafor), F. Aboulezz-7 (84 A. Farrugia).
Ħamrun
A. Curmi-4.5, A. Borg-5, D. Camilleri-5, M. Grima-4.5, T. Vella-5.5 (78 L. Grech), D. Zerafa-5.5, A. Ivanov-4.5, A. Yoshev-5.5 (85 A. Vergilov), L. Vitanov-5, R. Brightwell-4 (46 R. Spiteri-5), N. Bozhov-6.
Referee: Andrè Arciola.
Yellow cards: Yoshev, Grima.
BOV Player of the match: Danail Mitev (Mosta)