SLIEMA WANDERERS 1 PEMBROKE ATHLETA 0
A goal past the half hour mark, netted by Brazilian midfielder Pedrinho brought broad smiles on the Sliema supporters’ faces as the Wanderers took home the first points of the season.
That ‘salvo’ by Pedrinho may have been a hard pill for high-flyers Pemobroke to swallow after their second-half surge failed to produce an equaliser.
As expected Sliema Wanderers were more insistent in the opening period and kept pushing their opponents deeper into their own half leaving Pembroke with the solitary option of going for a quick counter.
The movement of Michael Mifsud across the spectrum of his team’s attacking line was supported with the strong running of Pedrinho and Rafael Ledesma.
But Sliema’s attempts to make inroads in attack were being thwarted by the Athleta defence that gradually finding its solidity with of Zoran Levnaic and Owen Bugeja forming an impressive central defence partnership.
But their toils to get to grips with Sliema’s movement were laid bare past the half hour mark when Pedrinho, charging forward from a central midfield position, played a neat one-two with Mifsud before steering the ball past Pembroke goalkeeper Matthew Farrugia.
After the break, Pembroke started showing up in midfield and the positional sense of Paltemio Barbetti came in useful when cutting vertical balls directed to strikers Gustavo Villalobos and Gibson Bardsley. In the 52nd minute, Barbetti launched a looping cross for Ariel Laudisi on the left flank but his effort went spinning wide.
The goodwill from both sides was not missing even if the football was on the helter-skelter type. Past the hour mark, Farrugia was forced to punch away a menacing cross-shot from Alex Muscat.
Sliema kept up the pressure and Mifsud, set free on a vertical ball, was foiled by the brave Pembroke goalkeeper, who saved his effort.
Three minutes from time, Sliema escaped unscathed when Barbetti hit a free-kick straight at goalkeeper Glenn Zammit and the Sliema guardian could only tip the ball over the bar.
But the Athleta’s best chance fell to Laudisi at death when the striker’s grounder hit the foot of the post after a well-worked move.