Qormi 1
Del Giudice 44;
Sliema Wanderers 3
Cilia 31; Gueye 33; A. Muscat 78;

Two goals in the space of two first-half minutes put Sliema Wanderers on their way to a hard-earned victory over Qormi yesterday.

It was a flattering win for Sliema who had to dig deep into their reserves of resilience to overcome the stern challenge of a Qormi side who showed great resolve throughout the match but whose hopes were scuppered by two moments of madness in defence during the first half.

Those mistakes gave the Wanderers a two-goal buffer which they preserved despite Qormi’s efforts as Sliema made it two wins in a row to move closer to the leading teams in the standings.

Qormi showed a lot of promise but lacked a cutting edge in the final third as the absence of Alfred Effiong and Riccardo Innocenti hurt their hopes of putting their top-six aspirations back on track.

Sliema coach Alfonso Greco handed a start to new signing Alessandro Rapino as the former Viterbese defender partnered fellow Italian Stefano Bianciardi in the heart of defence while Jacob Borg was back in his usual left-back role.

Forwards Stanley Ohawuchi and Ivan Woods are still sidelined with injury while Abubakar Bello-Osagie was absent from the squad.

Tommaso Volpi, the Qormi coach, was hampered by the absence of goalkeeper Matthew Farrugia, defender Owen Bugeja and Effiong, all suspended.

Steve Sultana started in goal and Giuseppe Bellucci slotted into central defence. Emerson Vella was preferred to Leighton Grech.

The match was a scrappy affair for much of the opening 20 minutes with both sets of players battling hard to seize the initiative.

The contest sprang to life just past the half-hour mark when the Wanderers struck two quick goals.

Mattias Muchardi picked out John Mintoff on the right and the Malta winger released Pape Gueye who burst into the area and quickly squared the ball to Trevor Cilia who beat Sultana from close in.

Qormi were still coming to terms with that blow when Sliema doubled their lead two minutes later. Gueye was again the protagonist as he dispossessed defender Marco Petrassi, sped into the area and rounded Sultana before depositing the ball into the net.

The Yellow-Blacks came agonisingly close to pulling a goal back three minutes from half-time when Federico Santaguida’s through-ball released Nucera who ran past the onrushing Henry Bonello but his shot was cleared off the line by the backtracking Bianciardi.

Qormi did manage to get back into the game on the stroke of half-time when Luigi Del Giudice showed great footwork to turn past Mintoff and rifle past Bonello.

On the restart, Greco withdrew the disappointing Borg and roped in Beppe Muscat.

Sliema started the second half brightly and on 52 minutes, Mark Scerri played Gueye through but the Senegalese striker was anticipated by Sultana.

The Blues almost struck again on 67 minutes when Beppe Muscat stormed into the area and found Paltemio Barbetti whose first-time shot was diverted towards goal by Gueye but Sultana was alert to block.

At the other end, Nucera’s set-piece cross flashed across the Sliema goal and in came Santaguida who fired into the side-netting.

Muchardi should have killed off Qormi on 74 minutes when he profited from some hesitant defending by Bellucci but the Argentine blasted over.

Sliema applied the coup de grace 12 minutes from time when Gueye powered his way into the box before passing to the rushing Alex Muscat who stabbed the ball home.

The Blues finished the match with 10 men when Scerri was shown a straight red card after a verbal exchange with Qormi’s Vella.

Qormi were also reduced to 10 men in stoppage time when Duncan Pisani was given a straight red for dissent.

Referee: Alan Mario Sant.

Yellow cards: Santaguida; Bonello; Bianciardi; Bellucci; B. Muscat.

Red cards: Scerri (S) 85; Pisani (Q) 90.

BOV player of the match: Pape Gueye (Sliema).

Standings