Naxxar Lions 2
Rocha Da Silva 17; Evaldo 58;
Sliema Wanderers 2
A. Muscat 5; Cilia 15;
Two goals down after 15 minutes against a Sliema Wanderers side brimming with confidence and playing some of their best football this season, Naxxar Lions looked down and out. But Winston Muscat’s men mounted a strong fightback to claw back two goals and grab a hard-earned point.
Naxxar were on the backfoot at the initial stages, yesterday.
In fact, they could not live with the Wanderers’ pace and precision passing and had already been carved open once before Alex Muscat scored after five minutes.
There appeared little danger when Trevor Cilia’s delivery from a free-kick reached the Naxxar box. Pape Gueye, however, detected a slight error in Evaldo’s positioning and dispossessed him before Muscat slotted the Senegalese striker’s inviting ball past Julian Azzopardi with a confident finish.
Sliema continued to look dangerous with Gueye posing plenty of problems for Naxxar.
Shy of the first quarter, Alfonso Greco’s Blues doubled their lead and it was the result of a quick counter-attacking move.
Paltemio Barbetti released John Mintoff on the left and he ran through before finding Gueye. His centre flew across goal where Cilia was on the right spot to finish.
But the lapses in concentration that have cost Sliema so dear in the previous matches struck again yesterday when Gilmar played an excellent throughball to Andre Rocha da Silva who outpaced Alessandro Rapino and beat Henry Bonello with a low strike – 2-1.
Sliema’s confidence did not appear dented though as they continued to monopolise possession and also create scoring chances despite some erratic play from their part.
The best of the opportunities was a powerful Cilia grounder that was parried by Azzopardi. He was well positioned to save with his feet just after the interval.
Yet, Naxxar were level on 58 minutes as Evaldo poked home Pablo Doffo’s free-kick from the right after the Sliema defence had failed to deal with the Argentine’s delivery inside their box.
Evaldo’s equaliser sparked a strong Sliema reaction.
Cilia sent in an excellent ball deep for substitute Ivan Woods whose close-range shot hit the foot of the post. From the rebound, Barbetti drove the ball wide.
Sliema’s hopes of victory took a blow 17 minutes from time when Rapino was given his marching orders for a reckless challenge on Gilmar.
But the Blues’ belief never wavered, even in those anxious moments. Alex Muscat unsettled the Naxxar defence with a mazy run but Azzopardi produced another smart save to keep out the Wanderers skipper’s lob.
Perhaps, the biggest escape of the afternoon came at the other end though as late on Ousseni Zongo beat the marking of Matias Muchardi before curling an effort just wide of the far post.
Naxxar Lions
J. Azzopardi-6.5, J. Ani-5 (69 T. Scerri-4), R.G. Cassar-5, Gilmar-7.5, T. Lopes-5, A. Rocha dos Santos-6 (75 O. Zongo), P. Doffo-7, Evaldo-5, M. Briffa-6 (82 V. Bellia), A. Buhagiar-6, M. Del Negro-6.
Sliema Wanderers
H. Bonello-6, A. Muscat-7, J. Borg-5, A. Rapino, J. Mintoff-5.5, T. Cilia-7 (80 C. Gatt Baldacchino), P. Gueye-6 (46 I. Woods-5), P. Barbetti-5, M. Muchardi-6.5, B. Muscat-5.5 (65 A. Navarra-5), S. Bianciardi-6.
Referee: Paul Caruana.
Yellow cards: Rapino, Doffo.
Red card: Rapino (S) 73.
BOV Player of the match: Gilmar (Naxxar Lions).