VITTORIOSA STARS 1

Teruel 22

QORMI 0

Vittoriosa earned their first victory of the season with a hard-fought victory over Qormi.

Vittoriosa were the brighter side in the early stages but they were dealt an unexpected setback on eight minutes when Sean Cini picked up a muscle injury after colliding and was replaced by Jean Mathias Vella.

But the momentum remained with the Stars and in the 10th minute, Josè Filipe Aguiar’s pile-driver from the distance hit the crossbar. From the rebound, Matthew Farrugia then distinguished himself with a flying save to push away Tristan Caruana’s clearance who errorously headed the ball backwards.

Another swift, cohesive move by Oliver Spiteri’s troops almost yielded the advantage six minutes later as Malcolm Buttigieg delivered a centre for Malcolm Pereira who arrowed header towards goal but Farrugia pulled off another save to thwart the Brazilian striker. Qormi sighed with relief but theirs was a temporary reprieve.

After 22 minutes, Pereira turned provider as his classy touch sailed towards Teruel who duly guided the ball past Farrugia.

Vittoriosa continued to show the better ideas in the attack and outmuscled Qormi until the rest of the half.

The second half was devoid of goal scoring opporunities bar Ricardo Innocenti’s first-time volley from Caruana’s corner, finishing off the near post. The modus operandi was the same few minutes later when Caruana’s set-piece soared towards the far side of Vittoriosa’s box and Innocenti tested Vella with a glancing header.

Another spell of sloppy football ensued with the game only springing to life in the dying minutes. First, substitute Gilbert Martin embarked on one of his trademark runs, gliding past Giuseppe Bellucci and Owen Bugeja but his rising shot was parried away by Farrugia.

Just before the final whistle, Roderick Sammut thought he had equalised when hitting the ball past Vella from close-range but the goal was annulled for offside.