Sliema Wanderers 2
Lattes 53; Eyenga 63;
Mosta 0

Sliema Wanderers have achieved their Championship Pool objective but Danilo Doncic is adamant that his team will not sit on their laurels.

A clash with the revitalised Mosta was seen as a tricky fixture for Sliema in their quest to reassert their European challenge. Banishing fears of complacency, the Wanderers showed the brighter ideas to ease past their inept opponents.

Mosta will probably cite the absences of several key players, particularly centre-halves Federico Tisbi and Yannick Ossok, as the main reason for their limp display but Sliema were also heavily depleted.

Inspired by Danail Mitev, Sliema laid bare the weaknesses of Mosta’s patched-up defence to notch their second straight win for the first time since they beat Birkirkara 1-0 on January 8.

Anicet Eyenga and Ryan Grech were named in the Blues’ starting line-up, replacing Ryan Fenech and Rumen Galabov who were serving a one-match ban. Beppe Muscat was also absent through suspension.

Sticking to his attacking philosophy, Doncic sent out four roaming forwards with Eyenga taking up the central striker’s role in front of Emiliano Lattes, Mitev and Trevor Cilia.

Three of the five changes in Mosta’s starting line-up were enforced upon coach Steve D’Amato by the suspension of Tisbi, Ossok and Florent Raimy.

Zakaria Kibona, Predrag Mirceta, Jonathan Bajada, Alex Cini and Luca Martinelli were handed first-team roles in Mosta’s 4-1-4-1 formation in which the prolific Obinna Obiefule was the attacking spearhead.

The scoreboard showed seven minutes when Eyenga teed up Mitev inside the box but the Bulgarian’s drive flew over.

A diagonal free-kick from Mosta’s Ian Zammit was high but the game remained devoid of creative fare. Cilia’s participation was curtailed by injury after 25 minutes, his place taken by youngster Ryan Dalli.

Sliema appealed for a penalty when Eyenga went down under the challenge of Martinelli but referee Glenn Tonna ruled that the striker had dived.

The erstwhile low-key Mosta came close to taking a surprise lead seven minutes from half-time.

There seemed no danger for Sliema when a pass from midfield looped into the box and above the dithering Clifford Gatt Baldacchino. Sensing the opportunity, Obiefule dashed into the box and lobbed over Bonello but luckily for Sliema the ball flashed wide of the far post.

Three minutes into the second half, Mosta goalkeeper Jonathan Debono produced his first meaningful intervention when fisting away Mitev’s free-kick from the right.

Moments later, Mitev’s set-piece cross from the left angled into the six-yard box but Eyenga’s downward header grazed the post.

That was the preamble to Sliema’s opener which came eight minutes into the second half. Alex Muscat profited from a poor clearance before squaring to Lattes who side-footed home. It could have got worse for Mosta when Muscat powered through but rifled wide.

Mosta were teetering. On the hour mark, Lattes guided a through-ball to Mitev whose angled drive came off the side-netting.

Two minutes later, Sliema’s supremacy produced a second goal, the towering Eyenga rising highest to head Mitev’s corner past Debono.

Zammit’s free-kick was easily trapped by Bonello but Mosta’s attacking threat remained negligible.

Gilbert Martin provided some much-needed spark for Mosta with a good run through the middle before switching the ball to Zammit whose grounder ended wide.

Mitev again tormented the Mosta defence down the left but his cross was cut out by Debono. The danger refused to go though.

From a corner, taken by Mitev, the ball sailed towards the far post where Steve Bezzina looked certain to score but his flick brought an excellent save from Debono.

Any hopes Mosta may have had of staging a comeback all but disappeared six minutes from time when Zammit incurred a second booking for a late tackle on Bogdanovic.

Sliema Wanderers
H. Bonello-5, A. Muscat-6, N. Bogdanovic-7, J. Mifsud-6, R. Grech-6.5, A. Eyenga-7, D. Mitev-8, S. Bezzina-6 (89 Z. Micallef), C. Gatt Baldacchino-5, T. Cilia (25 R. Dalli-5.5, 72 A. Caligari), E. Lattes-7.

Mosta
J. Debono-5.5, A. Borg-4, K. Farrugia-4, L. Martinelli-5, A. Cini-4, J. Bajada-4, K. Magro-5, P. Mirceta-4 (74 S. Grech), I. Zammit, Z. Kibona-4 (56 T. Vella-4), O. Obiefule-5 (45 G. Martin-5).

Referee: Glenn Tonna.

Yellow cards: Bogdanovic; Magro; Zammit; Dalli; Gatt Baldacchino.

Red card: Zammit (M) 84.

BOV player of the match: Danail Mitev (Sliema).

Standings