Hamrun Spartans 1
Spiteri 37
Valletta 3
Zammit 42, 44; Priso 80
Hibs' feisty fightback in their come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Birkirkara on Saturday augmented the pressure on Valletta before the latter's encounter with Ħamrun Spartans.
The champions came into their final match before the onset of the Championship Pool as the only unbeaten side of the Premier League but seven draws from their previous 17 matches had smoothed the way for the sprightly Hibs to seize pole position.
If Valletta were eyeing victory to trim the gap on the Paolites to just one point, Ħamrun Spartans also had their eyes centred on a win to add another point to their Relegation Pool tally.
The outcome of these two rivals' tenacious endeavours was a combative match in which Valletta roared back from a goal down to defeat the Spartans 3-1.
Ian Zammit was the toast of the Citizens as he capped a man-of-the-match display with a well-taken double in the final four minutes of the first half.
Having taken a deserved lead through Gaetan Spiteri, the solid Spartans were pegged back by Zammit's goals but the turning point came after the break when Ħamrun were reduced to ten men following the dismissal of Jonathan Bondin.
Zammit refrained from making drastic changes from the team that ground out a 1-0 win over rivals Floriana. Cameroon forward Priso Doding, back in the frame after seeing out his one-match ban, featured among the substitutes.
With Argentine striker Sebastian Monesterolo sidelined with a knee injury, Ian Zammit retained his place in City's starting XI while Jamie Pace came in for the suspended Edmond Agius.
Ħamrun's vibrant showing in the 4-1 demolition of Qormi encouraged coach Steve D'Amato to send out the same team for the clash with the champions.
Before the match, Bondin, who joined Ħamrun on loan from Valletta in January, threw a bouquet of flowers to the City fans who greeted his gesture with a warm applause.
If the selections of the two coaches offered no surprises, the sight of Zammit swapping the dug-out for a seat in the top part of the VIP zone caused a few eyebrows to be raised.
Zammit was not serving a touchline ban but decided to watch the first portion of the game from the stands, perhaps to have a clearer view of his players' movement.
The City coach will have been appalled with his team's poor defending when, with only eight minutes of the game gone, Sylvano Comvalius was afforded time and space to send in a low cross from the right and towards the centre of the penalty area. As Kenneth Scicluna missed his clearance, the ball rolled invitingly to Steve Meilak who looked certain to score but the Spartans' winger incredible missed the target.
Four minutes later, Valletta would have opened the scoring but for a brave save from Ivan Casha from Cleaven Frendo after the latter had been picked out by Gilbert Agius.
The early exchanges remained finely-poised but the Spartans looked more dangerous going forward, mainly through the effective probing of the likes Comvalius, Meilak and Gaetan Spiteri.
Comvalius became the first player to go into the referee's book after he was deemed to have dived inside the box following a tackle by Dimech.
Discerning his team's troubles to get their passing game going, Zammit quickly made his way down to the touchline to deliver fresh instructions to the players.
Frendo did well to create space for shot inside the box but his effort flashed against the side-netting.
There was a sense of urgency about Valletta now, Zammit squeezing a low shot that the diving Casha managed to touch away.
Eight minutes from half-time, the Spartans broke the stalemate. Florin Anton's dipping cross from the left soared towards the six-yard box where the unmarked Spiteri jumped well to head past Hogg.
It took Valletta five minutes to redress the imbalance. The move was initiated by Steve Bezzina who won a tussle for possession with Rupert Mangion just outside his own area before serving Dyson Falzon. The former Mosta winger promptly delivered a long ball over the backtracking Spartans defenders and into the path of Zammit who chipped Casha from close range.
Valletta's joy increased two minutes later when Zammit's close-range header from Falzon's free-kick trickled past Casha to give his team a 2-1 half-time lead.
As the two teams walked towards the tunnel, Casha had to be restrained from reacting to remarks from some of the Spartans fans.
Controversy reared its head eight minutes into the second half when referee Alan Mario Sant incensed the Spartans fans by expelling Bondin for a last-man foul on the advancing Frendo.
From the press area, Sant's decision looked somewhat harsh as Zoran Levnaic was in line with Bondin when the latter tripped Frendo.
The referee again incurred the wrath of the Spartans fans 14 minutes int the second half when he turned down their claims for a penalty after Spiteri looked to have been nudged off the ball by Grioli.
In no time, more shouts of 'penalty' echoed around the stadium after the ball came off Levnaic's shoulder but Sant was unmoved.
A man to the good, Valletta were now fancied to quicken the pace of their game and make their numerical advantage count but the Spartans refused to lie down.
Mangion was visibly upset at being substituted by D'Amato who elected to bring on veteran Stefan Sultana.
The Citizens had the points strewn up 10 minutes from time. Zammit, one of Valletta's better performers yesterday, capitalised on a short clearance by Roderick Fenech by heading the ball towards Priso who charged forward unimpeded before drilling a strong shot ito the net.
In the dying stages, Agius should have widened Valletta's lead but he fired wide from a good position after receiving from Giglio.
Hamrun Spartans
I. Casha-5, Z. Levnaic-6.5, S. Comvalius-6.5, Roderick Fenech-6, S. Meilak-5 ('68 D.A. Cucciardi-5), Ryan Fenech-7, R. Mangion-6 ('72 S. Sultana), F. Anton-6, G. Spiteri-6.5 ('82 L.J. Agius), J. Bondin, M. Micallef-5.5.
Valletta
A. Hogg-6, J. Grioli-6, K. Scicluna-6, L. Dimech-6, S. Bezzina-6, C. Frendo-6.5 ('65 D. Priso-6), R. Briffa-6, J. Pace-6.5, D. Falzon-6 ('73 S. Giglio), I. Zammit-7.5 ('84 P. Massaro), G. Agius-6.
Referee: Alan Mario Sant.
Yellow cards: Comvalius; Micallef; Zammit; Rod. Fenech; Falzon; Spiteri.
Red card: Bondin (Ħ) 53.
BoV player of the match: Ian Zammit (Valletta).