Marsaxlokk 0
Valletta 2
Sammut 18; Falzon 49;
Valletta’s quest to cement top spot in the BOV Premier League faced another stern test yesterday as the title favourites ran into Marsaxlokk.
The Blues’ unbeaten start to the season lent an extra edge to their encounter with Valletta, not to mention the rivalry between the clubs after Victor Sciriha, who led Marsaxlokk to their first ever Premier League title, left to take over the reins of the club from the capital.
Like Marsaxlokk, the Whites were also undefeated in their opening five games and it was they who preserved their record yesterday after gaining a 2-0 victory.
Two goals inside the opening 49 minutes looked to have set Valletta en route to a hassle-free victory but that was certainly not the case as, in an increasingly fractious match, Marsaxlokk reeled off a strong reaction to rattle Valletta.
The Premier League leaders had their backs to the wall for a brief spell in the second half but they stood firm and also had opportunities to widen their lead as Marsaxlokk’s rally petered out after Julio Alcorse was sent off late on.
Hundreds of Valletta fans gathered outside the Tedesco Stadium hours before kick-off, raising fears that the demand for tickets would exceed the venue’s capacity. So it proved as the side allocated to the City fans filled up in a matter of minutes to the extent that several supporters were turned away.
To their credit, the Marsaxlokk faithful also turned up in large numbers for this top-of-the-table showdown.
The two teams took a while to get going but the industry of Ruben Guerreiro Gravata and Trevor Templeman gave Marsaxlokk a slight edge in midfield in the initial stages.
On 12 minutes, Roderick Briffa profited from a rare mistake by Guerreiro to advance through the middle before summoning a piledriver that sailed over the bar.
A moment of magic from Briffa swung the balance in City’s favour as the midfielder embarked on a jinking run down the left and cut the ball back for Kevin Sammut who prodded past Reuben Gauci.
Sammut’s goal had a galvanising effect on Valletta who gained a grip on the proceedings as Marsaxlokk struggled for creativity.
Close to the half-hour mark, Valletta came close to a second goal but Briffa’s well-flighted free-kick bounced wide of the near post.
The southseasiders spurned a gilt-edged opportunity to pull level 10 minutes from half-time.
Valletta’s failure to deal with Martin Deanov’s right-wing corner put them under pressure as Carlo Mamo guided the ball back into the area and towards Malcolm Licari who opted to hit a shot on the turn but his effort flew wide.
Reprieved, the Citizens almost doubled their lead in their next attack. Briffa was again at the heart of Valletta’s move as he made a diagonal run into the box but his attempt was pushed out by Gauci. The ball fell to Denni who lost his footing initially but recovered to pass to Dyson Falzon but the latter’s shot took a deflection of Sciberras and rolled into the hands of Gauci.
Inside the opening minute of the second half, Valletta threatened again when Sammut’s through-ball invited Denni to run forward but the Brazilian sent his shot wide.
Briffa was just wide with another grounder but Valletta doubled their advantage on 48 minutes.
Denni’s silky run through the middle prised open Marsaxlokk, who had 10 players on the pitch as defender Clive Brincat limped out injured, as the Brazilian dinked the ball to Falzon who arrowed a shot into the top corner of the net.
Sunday Eboh replaced the injured Brincat soon after Valletta’s second goal and Patrick Curmi effected his second substitution on 56 minutes, bringing on striker Alcorse for Deanov.
Just past the hour, Marsaxlokk protested for a penalty when Steve Borg made a robust, possibly two-footed challenge to take the ball away from Guerreiro but referee Adrian Azzopardi waved play on.
Marsaxlokk heaped more pressure on Valletta as the second half moved on.
A prolonged move by the Blues set the alarm bells clanging in the stretched City defence as the influential Guerreiro floated a pass into the area and towards Kokavessis who was twice denied by the defiant Hogg but the loose ball squirmed towards Sciberras whose rising shot was again repelled by a posse of Valletta defenders. The danger was not over for Zerafa’s team as Templeman rifled a fierce drive from outside the area that ended just over.
The game opened up in the final 20 minutes. Hogg did well to stop Alcorse’s grounder after the Argentine had received from Templeman but the save of the evening came from Gauci who dived to his right to paw away Sammut’s header.
As Marsaxlokk were preparing to make a substitution, eyes were drawn to the City half where Borg lay prostrate on the turf after being involved in an off-the-ball incident with Alcorse.
As the Valletta players swarmed around Alcorse, the refereeconsulted assistant referee Philip Agius and showed the Argentine, who had earlier been booked for protests after a dubious offside decision went against him, a second yellow card followed by the red.
Marsaxlokk
R. Gauci-7, M. Licari-6, C. Mamo-5.5, R. Galabov-5, C. Brincat-6 (49 S. Eboh-5), G. Sciberras-5, R. Guerreiro Gravata-7, T. Templeman-7, D. Kokavessis-5.5, M. Deanov-5.5 (56 J. Alcorse), A. Effiong-5.
Valletta
Hogg-7, S. Borg-6, Ramon-7, J. Caruana-7, I. Azzopardi-7.5, R. Briffa-8, J. Pace-7, K. Sammut-7.5 (90 E. Agius), D. Falzon-6 (73 G. Agius), Denni-6.5, T. Scerri-6.
Referee: Adrian Azzopardi.
Yellow cards: Brincat; Sciberras; Eboh; Alcorse; Denni; Templeman; Scerri; Hogg.
Red card: Alcorse (M) 82.
Attendance: 1,520.
BOV player of the match: Roderick Briffa (Valletta).