Naxxar Lions 2
Thiago 50; Falzon 54;
Mosta 4
Micallef 28; Kaljevic 30; Grech 67; Silva Faria 89;
Mosta held off a bold second-half fightback from Naxxar Lions to emerge victorious in a thrilling derby yesterday.
A Mosta-Naxxar derby in the BOV Premier League had been missing for more than a decade and these two neighbouring rivals certainly gave the sizeable crowd a treat as they produced an exciting six-goal encounter.
Mosta had initially given the impression that they were on their way to a comfortable victory after hitting two quick goals midway through the first half that put them firmly in the driving seat.
But Naxxar refused to throw in the towel and staged a brave comeback after the interval, levelling the score inside the opening 10 minutes.
However, the Lions’ hopes were killed off by a spectacular strike from Ryan Grech which put the Blues back in charge before Ricardo Faria Silva wrapped up the points to lift his team to second place in the standings on 12 points.
More importantly, Mosta have maintained their drive towards a Championship Pool berth.
Danilo Doncic, the Mosta coach, was without the services of Diego Pereira, out with a knee injury, but defender Kane Farrugia was back in the fray after missing his team’s 3-1 win over Balzan due to suspension.
Naxxar coach Winston Muscat could not field his strongest formation as Brazilian midfielder Andre Rocha Da Silva joined Terence Scerri in the treatment room as he is recovering from a hamstring injury.
Angus Buhagiar was also out of the picture as he served the second of a two-match ban. On a more positive note, Brazilian defender Evaldo recovered sufficiently to start in the heart of defence alongside his compatriot Thiago.
The match was devoid of scoring opportunities for much of the opening 20 minutes as the two teams looked visibly nervous.
It was Bojan Kaljevic who provided some much-needed spark on 23 minutes.
Mosta’s Montenegrin forward showed great footwork to dribble past Evaldo and Louis Cutajar before serving Christian Fernandes whose low shot was blocked by Julian Azzopardi, the Naxxar goalkeeper.
Fernandes threatened again four minutes later when he stepped up to take a corner from the right channel and his cross-cum shot almost surprised Azzopardi who tipped the ball over.
From the ensuing corner, taken by Faria, Tyrone Farrugia’s scrambled effort was partially blocked by the Naxxar no.1 but from the rebound, Manolito Micallef blasted the ball home.
The Lions had little time to recover as barely two minutes later, they found themselves two goals behind.
Kaljevic raced clear before unleashing a powerful drive that flew into the top corner of the net.
Naxxar finally threatened six minutes from the break when Marlon Briffa sent a dangerous cross towards Darren Falzon who was anticipated by Farrugia as he was about to divert the ball into the net.
Mosta almost made it 3-0 on the stroke of half-time when the excellent Kaljevic again wriggled his way through in the area before squaring the ball to Fernandes who failed to make contact in front of a gaping goal.
After the change of ends, Muscat withdrew Andrew Decesare and roped in Victor Bellia as he looked to add some steel to his team’s engine room.
If the Naxxar coach expected a response from his team after a disappointing first half, he certainly got it as five minutes into the second half, the Lions pulled one back.
Naxxar were awarded a free-kick on the right and Pablo Doffo’s delivery was met by Thiago whose powerful header had the better of Omar Borg who could not keep the ball out.
The goal clearly lifted the Lions and the newly-promoted side went on to clinch the equaliser four minutes later.
The hard-working Ousseni Zongo sent a fine through-ball towards Falzon who fired a low drive past Borg.
Doncic looked stunned but the Serbian coach moved quickly to shore up his defence when he withdrew Fernandes and roped in Jonas Ekani.
When the match seemed to be shifting Naxxar’s way, Mosta suddenly came to life and regained the lead.
The clock marked 67 minutes gone when Grech received the ball on the edge of the area and let fly a stinging volley that gave Azzopardi no chance.
Mosta could have sealed the points on 73 minutes when Kaljevic ran clear to collect a Borg clearance but the Montenegrin lobbed the ball over with only Azzopardi to beat.
But Mosta put the game to bed a minute from time.
Kaljevic picked out Ricardo Faria Silva on the edge of the area and the Brazilian steadied himself before beating Azzopardi with a low strike.
Naxxar Lions
J. Azzopardi-5, M. Briffa-6, L. Cutajar-5, Gilmar-4, A. Decesare-5 (46 V. Bellia-5.5), M. Del Negro-6 (81 D. Bonnici), P. Doffo-6, D. Falzon-6, Thiago-6.5, Evaldo-6, O. Zongo-6.
Mosta
O. Borg-6, T. Farrugia-7.5, K. Farrugia-6, I. Grech-6.5, M. Micallef-6.5 (87 A. Cini), R. Grech-6.5, L. Duriska-6, R. Faria Silva-6, Y. De Yessus Messias-6 (70 M. Brincat-5.5), C. Fernandes-5 (57 J. Ekani-6), B. Kaljevic-6.5.
Referee: Marco Borg.
Yellow Cards: Messias; Kaljevic; Thiago; Grech; Briffa.
BOV player of the match: Bojan Kaljevic (Mosta).