Mosta were gripped by feelings of joy and relief late Friday after gaining their first win of the season at the expense of the more-quoted Sliema Wanderers.
Promoted to the elite category after beating Melita in a play-off last season, Mosta took some time to find their feet in their new surroundings but their maiden win can only have strengthened their confidence.
“I hope this win will help us to go forward,” Mosta coach Oliver Spiteri said.
“Our performances in the last five matches have been good but before the Sliema game, we had this psychological barrier, we maybe didn’t believe in our chances so much.
“We have now shown that we can play against anyone. Our foreign players are settling well and this is a boost for the whole team. Now, I expect my team to reproduce our performance against Sliema in the next match against Qormi.”
Spiteri rebuffed suggestions that Sliema’s injury woes and flailing morale may have made his team’s task easier.
“It’s like a double-edged sword I guess,” Spiteri replied.
“They will have been determined to bounce back from their 4-2 defeat to Ħamrun Spartans but we were hungry to win the points and we knew that we were playing well enough to reach this objective.
“Some reports in the media may have given the impression that other teams have played badly against Mosta but that’s not the case. I think my players deserve some credit for their efforts.
“Even in the matches against the big teams, we haven’t given away many scoring chances and that says something about the organisation of our team.”
Cautious approach
The 3-2 win on Friday ought to have lifted Mosta’s optimism about their chances of avoiding relegation but Spiteri urged caution.
“It’s too early,” Spiteri said.
“Before the start of the season, I said that we had a mountain to climb and nothing has changed after this result.
“The one positive thing is that three to four teams are in the same situation as us.
“As some of my fellow coaches have remarked, this year’s Premier League has three layers. It looks like Valletta and Hibs are a head above the rest, then there are five teams fighting to make the Championship Pool and another five in the lower half.
“We’re part of the latter group but we’ve reduced the gap on our direct rivals.”
Sliema’s upset to Mosta was the first time Danilo Doncic had suffered back-to-back defeats since the Serbian succeeded Mark Marlow in February.
“We knew that we had a short squad,” Doncic said.
“We find it hard to cope with injuries, especially when we’re missing regular players. And this is exactly what happened to us in the last two games.
“Alex Muscat was out in the first weeks of the season but we managed to overcome his loss.
“In the last few games, we have been hit by injuries to Rumen Galabov, goalkeeper Henry Bonello and Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza and the players who have replaced them still need match practice.
“The likes of Cleaven Frendo and Anthony Curmi had not played first-team football for a long time, so we have to be patient with them.
“Although the injury factor has undermined our cause, it is not an excuse for the fact that we have conceded seven goals in our last two matches. It’s too much and we have to work on our defending.
“We’ve been struggling at the back. Our team is not mature enough to win games when we don’t play well. We can’t afford to be below-par, we have to give more than 100 per cent in every game.
“But, I believe in the quality of the players in my squad. These two bad results are a wake-up call but we have beaten the likes of Birkirkara and Floriana this season and that shows that Sliema have potential.”
In their previous outing against Ħamrun Spartans, Sliema endured 13 catastrophic minutes, letting in four goals after goalkeeper Bonello had been stretchered off with a muscle injury.
That dramatic collapse blem-ished Sliema’s morale but Doncic dismissed suggestions that his team had failed to recover from the Spartans setback in their defeat to Mosta.
“No, I don’t think we were still under shock from the game against Ħamrun Spartans,” Doncic said.
“Mosta deserve credit because they played very well. I saw them against Hibs. With 10 men, Mosta were the better team before they conceded a late second goal. They are not a bad side.
“In my eyes, it was only a question of when not if they would get their first win. They have good foreigners and I expected a stern challenge from them. The only thing that surprised me was that we gave away silly goals.”
Two defeats in a row hardly represent the ideal way for Sliema to prepare for their first clash with Valletta but Doncic is backing his team to raise their game.
“We have had good results against the top teams but we’ve struggled to show our best against less-quoted opponents,” Doncic said.
“We’ve had our wake-up call and I believe that we will give Valletta a hard time.”
Premier League statistics
Scorers, red cards
Balzan Youths: Ciantar 3; Bright 2; Tasic, Camilleri.
Red cards: Pedrinho (vs Qormi, vs Mqabba), Francica (vs Hibs), Forace (vs Tarxien).
Birkirkara: Avila 6; Cilia 3 (2 pens); Grech 2, Pereira 2; Buhagiar.
Red card: Decesare (vs Mosta).
Floriana: Caruana 4; Woods 3 (1 pen); Cassar, Odwong, Mintoff, Farrugia, Micallef.
Own goal: Everton (vs Tarxien).
Red card: Amamoo (vs Sliema).
Ħamrun: Ribeiro 3; Luis Silva, Grima, Sammut, Toneto Porcari, Shields.
Red cards: Agius (vs Balzan), Polli (vs Birkirkara).
Hibernians: Edison 10; Failla 7; Caruana, Soares, Cohen, Anizoba.
Red card: Pulis (vs Valletta).
Marsaxlokk: Obiefule 7; Deanov 4; Farrugia, Kokavessis, Lattes.
Red card: Templeman (vs Hibernians), Brincat (vs Qormi).
Mosta: Zammit 2 (1 pen); Martin, Aboulezz, Arilson, Mvondo.
Own goal: Buhagiar (vs Birkirkara).
Red card: Ossok (vs Hibs).
Mqabba: Mamic 5; Mazzitelli 3; Azzopardi, Briffa.
Red cards: Mazzitelli (vs Marsaxlokk), Mamic (vs Hibs), Timotic (vs Hibs).
Qormi: Farrugia 5 (3 pens); Jorge Pereira 4; Nwoke 2; Bello-Osagie, Bartolo, Sciberras, Bondin.
Sliema Wanderers: Mitev 3 (2 pens), Lima 3; Jorge 2, Mifsud Triganza 2; Scerri, Bajada, Ani, Frendo.
Red cards: Scerri (vs Hibs), Grech (vs Floriana), Mitev (vs Marsaxlokk).
Tarxien: Bueno 4 (1 pen); Ricardo 3; Everton, Anonam.
Red cards: Anonam (vs Mosta), Costa (vs Balzan).
Valletta: Barbosa 5; Effiong 4; Denni 3; Mifsud 2, Pace 2, Borg 2; Zongo.
Red cards: G. Agius, Borg, Fenech (vs Hibs).
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Hibernians | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 6 | 22 |
| Valletta | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 8 | 21 |
| Floriana | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 5 | 16 |
| Qormi | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 11 | 13 |
| Birkirkara | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 10 | 13 |
| Sliema | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 13 | 12 |
| Mqabba | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 10 |
| Balzan | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 14 | 8 |
| Marsaxlokk | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 7 |
| Ħamrun | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 15 | 7 |
| Tarxien | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 19 | 4 |
| Mosta | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 18 | 4 |
Next fixtures
Friday (Tedesco Stadium)
19.30 Valletta vs Sliema
Saturday (Hibs Stadium)
14.00 Tarxien vs Mqabba
16.00 Qormi vs Mosta
Sunday (Tedesco Stadium)
14.00 Balzan vs Marsaxlokk
16.15 Ħamrun vs Hibs
Monday (Tedesco Stadium)
19.30 Floriana vs Birkirkara