Valletta 3
Mifsud 25; Leandro 31, Falzon 35;
Hibernians 1
Lima 45;
Valletta sent a clear message of intent on the eve of the new season as they eased past Hibernians to win the Super Cup for a third successive time at the National Stadium yesterday.
Although, these may be early days in football terms, this fixture held huge significance for both sets of fans and the Citizens can be satisfied for undermining their rivals’ belief that this year they can resist the power of the Malta champions.
Hibs yesterday failed to live up to their potential of the only team capable of upsetting Valletta’s applecart last year, with their record against Valletta being an impressive one having swept past the Lilywhites three times.
But all that was thrown out of the window yesterday as new coach Mark Miller brought the vintage out of the Valletta lads as his side impressively assimilated his coaching teachings quickly.
The Englishman must have relished the satisfaction of a victory against Hibernians. This summer, he was on the receiving end of verbal taunts from his former supporters as his move to arch-rivals Valletta represented the most serious of affronts for the Paolities.
Manuel Bartolo was the last line of defence in a Valletta team replete with a quartet of Brazilian players but devoid of the services of Denni and Jonathan Caruana which left coach Miller with limited resources as assistant coach Gilbert Agius was included in the starting formation.
John Nwoba made his first competitive appearance in a Hibs shirt yesterday as Anderson Ribeiro, formerly of Ħamrun , made the selection just in time to sit on the bench.
It was Hibs who dictated matters early on.
The clock marked eight minutes when Bartolo failed to hold onto a corner from Jackson Lima but Rodolfo Soares could not convert the rebound from a tight angle.
The Paolites faded after an encouraging opening as Michael Mifsud gave City an early advantage with a fine angled finish in the 25th minute with virtually their first glimpse at the opponents’ goal.
Valletta’s opener was gleamed with both style and the intuitive understanding of the players linking perfectly. A through-pass by Roderick Briffa ripped open the Hibs defence, leaving the nippy striker clear to beat Mario Muscat.
Hibernians could not contain Mifsud and seven minutes later, the Malta striker punished the Paolites flat-out approach with a devastating counter-attack. He showed all his skills in a single burst of pace before serving Leandro who fired home.
On 35 minutes, Hibs’ hopes appeared to suffer a deadly blow, Dyson Falzon made a perfectly-timed run into the box to collect another Briffa pass as he kept his cool to chip the ball over Muscat.
It seemed Valletta’s momentum would overhelm their rivals but to their credit Hibs stood firm and on the stroke of half-time they narrowed the deficit. Lima pounced in trademark fashion to fire a firm volley that gave Bartolo no chance.
The response from Hibs coach Michael Woods to seeing his side behind at the break was to bring on Steve Pisani at the expense of Adrian Pulis with Edward Herrera dropping to the back four.
In the 51st minute, William Barbosa sent Marcelo Dias crashing to end his venture towards the Valletta area. The free-kick was awarded in perfect Lima territory.
Everybody expected the Brazilian to shoot but it was Andrew Cohen who took the free-kick, curling his shot over the wall but Bartolo made a brilliant one-hand save.
At the other end, Mifsud looked out of sorts for Valletta as he wasted – somewhat uncharacteristically - two clear-cut chances in quick succession.
Hibs coach Woods attempted to step up the pressure after 72 minutes when replaced Dias with Ribeiro.
Six minutes later, Bartolo came to his side’s rescue by pushing onto the bar a something of a fluke ‘cross-cum-shot’ from Herrera.
Ribeiro almost struck when he sent a thumping header against the bar from Pisani’s cross.
Despite Hibs’ late surge, the Citizens did well to administer their advantage and at the final whistle there was a roar of celebrations from the Valletta fans as skipper Briffa lifted the Super Cup trophy.
Valletta: M. Bartolo, R. Briffa, I. Azzopardi (64 K. Sammut), S. Borg, Ricardo, Gabriel (83 E. Agius), W. Barbosa, M. Mifsud, Leandro (83 I. Zammit) R. Fenech, D. Falzon.
Hibernians: M. Muscat, A. Pulis (46 S. Pisani), R. Camilleri, R. Soares, M. Dias (72 Ribeiro), A. Cohen, B. Kristensten E. Herrera, J. Vandelannoite, J. Lima, J. Nwoba (75 J. Bezzina).
Referee: Paul Caruana.
Yellow cards: Dias, Barbosa, Azzopardi.