Melita 1
Micallef 16
Ħamrun Spartans 3
Gribbon og 28; Calabretta 47, Vella 90
Ħamrun Spartans could at last savour their first Premier League victory this season and, if the performance did not measure up, but at least the club have something to build on.
The sense of unease persisted yesterday among the Spartans faithful but nothing other than a win against minnows Melita would have deepened the crisis brought by the 8-2 debacle against Valletta.
For Ħamrun, though, a win was key and, if confidence following a heavy defeat would evaporate quickly, the road for redemption is long, but at least the club have started that process.
Stefan Sultana resisted the temptation to overhaul his squad following last Monday’s debacle as he opted for ‘just’ four changes to his side with goalkeeper Anthony Curmi, Adrian Borg, Anton Vergilov and David Camilleri paying the price for their team’s lame showing against Valletta.
Andrea Cassar standing guard between the goalposts was joined by Daniel Zerafa, Angel Yoshev and Richard Brightwell in the starting line-up.
Melita were buoyed by the return of Julian Galea and Jovan Vukanic. Coach Martin Gregory also handed first-team call-ups to midfielders Michael Martin and Nigel Rizzo.
The Spartans looked short of ideas early on and on 13 minutes Terrence Vella embarked on a solo run but his shot was blocked by Matthew Sapiano.
However, it was Melita who took the lead with their first real venture inside the Spartans half.
Galea drove the ball towards the unmarked Luke Micallef who had time and space to curl the ball low into the bottom of the net.
Galea could have made it 2-0 on 26 minutes but his swerving shot flashed wide.
The Spartans were regaled with an equaliser two minutes later. Nikolai Bozhov’s cross-cum-shot took a deflection off George Gribbon’s feet and sailed past Sapiano.
Ħamrun took the lead two minutes after restart when Vella galloped towards goal and quickly squared the ball to Gianluca Calabretta who had the simple task of steering the ball into an empty net.
Ħamrun enjoyed plenty of possession without a cutting edge but they were not letting their opponents getting back into the game and Sapiano did well to deny the goal-bound Bozhov.
The Amateurs had not been short of attacking ambition on the few occasions when Ħamrun gave them the opportunity and they were unlucky on 73 minutes when Maxime Batel beat the flying Cassar but his effort glanced just wide.
Melita continued to search for the equaliser and nine minutes from time substitute Luke Micallef hooked the ball over from close in.
However, the Spartans wrapped up the win late on when in a quick break, Lyubomir Vitanov squared the ball to Vella for the easiest of goals.
Melita: M. Sapiano-6, I. Tufegdzic-5, M. Michael-6 (77 M. Valenzia), L. Micallef-5, J. Galea-6.5, J.L. Negrin-5.5, R. Alhinho-5 (69 M. Batel-4), K. Vella Petroni-5, G. Gribbon-5, N. Rizzo-6 (59 L. Sammut-3), J. Vukanic-5.5.
Ħamrun Spartans: A. Cassar-5, R. Brightwell-5, M. Grima-5.5, T. Vella-6.5 (90 A. Borg), D. Zerafa-5.5 (70 D. Camilleri), G. Calabretta-6, A. Ivanov-6, R. Fenech-5, L. Vitanov-6.5, A. Yoshev-6, N. Bozhov-6 (83 A. Vergilov).
Referee: Paul Caruana. Yellow cards: Rizzo, Fenech, Vella, Gribbon, Ivanov, Brightwell.
BOV player of the match: Nikolai Bozhov (Ħamrun Spartans).