GZIRA UTD 1
De Pinho 16

SLIEMA WANDERERS 0

Robert de Pinho’s early strike ended Gzira United’s wait for a first Premier League win with the only goal of the derby against Sliema Wanderers.

Sliema were unable to find an equaliser with Mark Scerri’s shot which was cleared off the line the best they could muster.

Sliema settled the quicker and, five minutes in, Mark Scerri made space for himself firing in a shot from just outside the box that the Gzira goalkeeper Jurgen Borg was relieved to see clear his far post.

Having weathered Sliema’s early flurry, Gzira began to share the exchanges as the Wanderers lost their earlier rhythm. Past the quarter of hour mark, Rafael Ledesma’s curling free-kick was the perfect height for Robert de Pinho who rose unchallenged to push the ball past Giuseppe Sarao and into the corner of the net.

Soon after Mathias Muchardi tried his luck for Sliema from distance but saw his effort go high and wide. It was end-to-end stuff and, with the last piece of action in the first half, Mark Scerri slalomed his way around Souleymane Diamoutene but his eventual strike rattled into the side-netting.

Sliema’s territorial supremacy prevailed after the break they still found it difficult to carve any gaps. On the hour mark, Milos Galin blasted a free-kick just over the bar.

Two minutes later, Sliema were quick to break forward, Muchardi drifted infield from the left before hitting a pass towards Scerri, but as Borg dashed off his line, Clifford Gatt Baldacchino slid in to clear the ball off the line.

When Wisdom Salomon freed Aidan Friggieri, the latter looked certain to end Sliema’s scoring drought but his grounder brought the best out of Borg.

At the other end, substitute John Nwoba looked out of sorts for Gzira as he wasted a string of chances to put them out of sight.

The Nigeria-born striker took one touch too many before Sarao got a vital touch on the ball. Moments later, Nwoba was unlucky to see his effort finish wide off the far post as his confidence seemed badly damaged.

Then, just seconds before the final whistle, he ran clear of the defence again but with just Sarao to beat he elected to pass to Gianmarco Conti and saw the midfielder fire into the defence.