SLIEMA WANDERERS 1 ST ANDREW’S 0

Sliema Wanderers needed the help of a spectacular albeit unintentional, own goal for a win that lifted them to joint fourth and left St Andrews’ bottom of the table.

The first chance came St Andrews’ way. Luca Cosmai ran toward the byline before dragging the ball for De Nguidjol whose inswinger was touched away by Glenn Zammit, the Sliema goalkeeper.

St Andrews were forced to make their first substitution on 25 minutes when their goalkeeper Kris Calleja suffered an injury and was replaced by Diego Rossetto.

Ten minutes later, Sliema missed a golden opportunity to break the deadlock when Michael Johnson conceded a penalty, handling the ball from Gary Muir’s cross. But the normally super cool English winger completely missed the target, sending the ball off the right post.

There was more self-inflicted damage after 38 minutes when Nicola Adreis facing his own goal, was under no pressure when he tried to hoof away Kerlon’s cross but completely miscued his clearance and instead sent a looping header over goalkeeper Rossetto.

After the change of ends, Sliema looked devoid of ideas and desire as they failed to make their powerhouse upfront counting.

In the closing stages, Sliema were made to endure some anxious moments late on to earn the three points as Nwoko forced Zammit into a diving save with a close-range header and the Wanderers, struggling to cope with the pace of de Nguidjol and Nwoko as Zammit had to dash out of his line to clear the danger.