Valletta 2 Qormi 1

Michael Mifsud and Terence Scerri eased their side’s agony at missing out the premier league when they scored stunning first-half goals to give Valletta the FA trophy. Having established a 2-0 lead in the first-half, Valletta proved to have too much defensive nous for Qormi’s stirring late comeback.

Valletta made the brighter start and Michael Mifsud grabbed the game’s opening goal after only eight minutes. Nigerian midfielder Doding Priso cut inside from the left and delivered a cross to the edge of the box where Mifsud stole ahead of his marker Ramon dos Santos and rifled in an unstoppable left-foot shot into the corner.

Valletta doubled their lead in the 21st minute. Scerri is not known as a natural dribbler of the ball, but his anticipation on a good play by Briffa was first-class when sublime footwork saw him spin his marker Dos Santos before shooting the ball into the net.

But Qormi were given a glimmer of hope in the 77th minutes when Gilbert Agius brought down Camilo and the Brazilian stepped up to slot home the penalty and set up a tense finale.

Having been seemingly down and out since the 8th minute, suddenly the Yellows were back in the game. They threw everything at Valletta in the closing minutes.but Caaneen’s men withstood the late assault to lift the FA trophy for the 12th time in their history.