Melita 1 Ħamrun Spartans 3
Ħamrun Spartans could at last savour their first premier league victory this season. Stefan Sultana resisted the temptation to overhaul his squad following last Monday’s debacle as he opted for ‘just’ four changes to his side with goalkeeper Anthony Curmi, Adrian Borg, Anton Vergilov and David Camilleri paying the price for their team’s lame showing in the 8-2 loss against Valletta.
Andrea Cassar standing guard between the goalposts was joined by Daniel Zerafa, Angel Yoshev and Richard Brightwell in the starting line-up.
Melita were buoyed by the return of forward Julian Galea and defender Jovan Vukanic. Coach Martin Gregory also made four changes from the Tarxien defeat as midfielders Michael Martin and Nigel Rizzo also earned first-team call-ups.
The anxiety that had accompanied the Spartans players into the game appeared to affect several players who struggled to make simple passes in the opening exchanges and there was little spark going forward.
Given the difficulty to string three passes together, Terence Vella embarked on an improvised a teasing solo run before unleashing a shot straight into Matthew Sapiano’s hands after 13 minutes.
And Melita took the lead with their first real venture inside the Spartans half. From the right flank, Galea drove the ball towards the unmarked Luke Micallef. The Ħamrun defence was caught off guard as the striker had time and space to curl the ball low into the bottom of the net after 16 minutes.
And, Ħamrun looked grateful for the slice of fortune when they were gifted the equaliser by George Gribbon two minutes later. Nikolai Bozhov’s cross-cum-shot took a deflection off Gribbon’s feet and sailed past Sapiano.
Out of the blue, Ħamrun took the lead two minutes after restart when Vella galloped towards goal unimpeded in a counter-attack. He took the ball past Sapiano who sped off his line and when he broke the ball to Gianluca Calabretta, the winger had the relatively simple task of steering it into an empty net.
The Spartans struggled to get forward but they kept things tight at the back.
The Amateurs had not been short of attacking ambition on the few occasions when Ħamrun gave them the opportunity and they were unlucky on 73 minutes when substitute Maxime Batel beat the flying Cassar but his effort glanced just wide off the bar.
Melita continued to search for the equaliser and nine minutes from time substitute Luke Micallef hooked the ball over the top when it looked like he might earn a point for the Amateurs in the closing minutes as Ħamrun exhaled in relief.
In the dying minutes, Ħamrun Spartans punished Melita flat-out when in a devastating counter-attack, Lyubomir Vitanov squared the ball for Terence Vella for the easiest of goals.