Qormi 1 Lija Athletic 0
Qormi reached their third FA trophy final in four years after a hard-fought win over Division One side Lija Athletic.
Two additional assistant referees were introduced for the first time in domestic competition last night as Marco Borg and Trustan Farrugia Cann stood behind the goal-line at either side of the field.
Lija Athletic showed more ambition in a scrappy opening period, making a mockery of a division gap between the two sides.
As a spectacle, however, the opening minutes were lacking. Qormi were playing 4-2-3-1, Leighton Grech and Joseph Chetcuti tried to spread the play but they were not helped by Alfred’s lack of movement up front.
Inside the first two minutes, Beu outpaced Jonathan Bondin on the flank but his attempt was blocked by Qormi goalkeeper Matthew Farrugia. The Albanian midfielder offered width and penetration on the left flank and wing-back Andrè Scicluna was always willing to press forward to supplement the attack.
In fact, in the 23rd minute, one lovely forward pass by Scicluna dissected Qormi’s back four, Leantiev Konda simply waited for the ball before shooting high over the bar.
On the half hour mark, Beu really should have broken the deadlock as he judged the flight of the ball perfectly near the halfway line, sweeping a first-time shot beyond Farrugia, the Qormi custodian but his effort crashed against the bar.
The skillful Abdullahi Ige had been posing problems for the Premier League and so it proved again after 50 minutes. The Nigerian slammed his way in from the right flank, beating Edison Bilboa but his attempted finished flew into the hands of Farrugia.
After 63 minutes, Availa Perez headed the ball goalwards and Kris Thackray’s rebound, up for a corner- came desperately close to crossing the goal-line before being scrambled clear by Daniel Scerri.
Qormi did not have to wait too long to seize the lead when Availa Perez raced into the box but his strike was repelled by the alert Bonnici. Edison Bilboa had timed his run, sweeping the rebound behind the Lija goalkeeper.
One-nil down, Lija were not panicking, though, and nor were they without an occasional threat, as Beu demonstrated when he drifted a shot over the bar from 22 metres. Yet, Effiong’s strong run brutally exposed Lija’s defensive weaknesses. The Nigerian striker played with the kind of speed and movement that second-tier opponents, for the most part, are not accustomed to facing.
After 79 minutes, Lija’s hopes to reach the final all but ebbed when after 79 minutes, Clayton Giordimaina was red-carded for tripping the goalbound Effiong as Qormi broke on the counter. More misery befell Lija when Matthew Fleri Soler was also given his marching orders for the same reasons as he scythed down the Qormi striker just before entering the box, meaning that the Athletic ended the match with eight men.
In stoppage time, substitute Matthew Bartolo hit the bar with virtually his first touch of the ball as the assist came from Matthew Gauci.