SLIEMA 4 RABAT AJAX 1

Sliema earned a hard-fought victory over Rabat. With memories of last weekend’s defeat by Mosta still fresh, Sliema Wanderers again looked before foreign duo Abubaker Bello-Osagie and Matias Muchardi took Sliema’s reigns to put an underserved gloss on the scoreline.

Sliema Wanderers’ resolve to take maximum points against Rabat was in abundant evidence when Alfonso Greco’s troops seized the lead after just eight minutes. Paltemio Barbetti’ was the architect, sending in a free-kick towards the far post where the unmarked Stefano Bianciardi headed past Pavle Velimirovic.

Shy the half hour, Diego Carrillo Pendas dancing delightfully beyond the ponderous Clifford Gatt Baldacchino only to roll his shot just wide of the left-hand post with only Henry Bonello to beat.

The Wanderers improved markedly at the start of the second half with Abubaker Bello-Osagie firing over after some confusion in the Rabat defence. The Nigerian was constant menace cutting in from Sliema’s right flank and his forays into the centre led to Sliema’s double advantage.

Never shy of dribbling Bello Osagie combined with Mintoff wide on the right flank and Muchardi sneaked ahead of his marker to head in from two metres out. The relief was palpable, both for Greco and the Sliema fans, but they still had work to do.

Rabat continued to push and reduced the deficit after 70 minutes when Licari had to exercise his neck muscles to reach Peleaz Bellido and arched a header over Bonello.

But with eight minutes remaining, Sliema put the seal on their win when Barbetti floated a pass to Muchardi who ran past onrushing Jonathan Azzopardi before Bello-Osagie arrive at the back post to squeeze in the Argentine’s ball from a tight angle.

At death, substitute Navarra put an undeserved gloss on the scoreline in bizarre circumstances. Bellido Pelaez’s free-kick hit his team-mate Dylan Falzon and the ball flew in the Italian striker’s path for the easiest of goals.