Dingli Swallows 2
Msida St Joseph 0
Dingli Swallows struck twice in the second half to beat Msida St Joseph who finished the match with nine men.
After a poor first half, the game came to life in the second period with the Swallows upping their game to put more pressure on Msida whose hopes were effectively shattered by the dismissal of two players.
The Swallows dominated the first half but they rarely troubled the Saints rearguard.
Msida’s counter-attacking game produced couple of tense moments for Dingli. On 14 minutes, Andrew Formosa passed to Andrea Grech who fired wide with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Dingli responded in the 25th minute when Chris Azzopardi fed Kevin Borg who was dispossessed by the sliding Matthew Borda as the winger was about to shoot.
Four minutes later, Clayton Caruana’s drive for Dingli finished inches wide. A Borg grounder was saved by Jeremy Alden.
On the stroke of half-time, Dingli keeper Jeffrey Farrugia tipped over Adrian Farrugia’s fierce shot.
Ryan Sammut and Joreilly Chirino replaced Etienne Farrugia and Reuben Vella for Dingli at the start of the second half.
The double substitution boosted Dingli’s attacking drive. On 55 minutes, Msida’s Neil Curmi was red-carded for a foul on the advancing Chirino. Curmi’s sending-off was a blow for Msida but with 19 minutes left, the Saints missed a golden opportunity when Damien Debono missed a sitter in front of goal.
Msida paid a high price for Debono’s miss as a minute later, Formosa failed to clear and Chirino’s low drive had the better of Alden.
On 80 minutes, Msida’s hopes were all but finished when Caruana was dismissed for a second booking. Alden kept the Saints in the game with a series of fine saves.
Deep into stoppage time Msida threw everyone forward, including Alden, as they pushed for an equaliser but they got punished at the back as Azzopardi shot into an empty net to seal Dingli’s win.
Dingli: J. Farrugia, S. Zampa, S. Tellus, R. Spiteri, R. Vella (J. Chirino), K. Formosa, C. Caruana (J. Sapiano), E. Farrugia (R. Sammut), K. Borg, R. Briffa, C. Azzopardi.
Msida: J. Alden, D. Debono (M. Grech), M. Borda, R. Caruana, J. D’Amato, A. Grech (L. Cassar), A. Formosa (K. Grech), P. Sakchai, A. Farrugia, C. Cioffi, N. Curmi.
Referee: Fiodor Zammit
Man of the match: J. Chirino (Dingli).