Balzan 1
Effiong 77;
Valletta 2
Pani 36; Nafti 42;

The air of optimism in the Valletta camp was further enriched yesterday as first-half goals from Claudio Pani and Abdelkarim Nafti ensured a return to the top position alongside Hibernians.

Having struggled for consistency in the opening part of the season, Valletta are now finding their feet as they claimed their fourth successive win for the first time this season after overcoming Balzan.

On a high after their 4-0 destruction of Birkirkara, Valletta encountered some stiff resistance from Balzan who were looking to return to winning ways after their unexpected defeat against Tarxien but the Citizens’ class prevailed.

There were periods during the game when Balzan, like Birkirkara in the previous match, had Valletta on the backfoot, especially in the opening half, but the cautious Valletta first defended valiantly and then hurt their opponents with quick counter-attacks.

Valletta coach Paul Zammit’s selection underlined his loyalty to the old football saying ‘you should never change a winning side’. Confirming the formation that began the game against Birkirkara, Zammit left the returning Ian Azzopardi on the bench.

Zammit had Njongo Priso and Nafti playing in support of Federico Falcone and Umeh Uchenna Calistus pushing high up the left flank.

Balzan’ s starting XI featured three changes from the Tarxien match as defender Elkin Serrano Valero was back from suspension, Lydon Micallef was preferred to Dylan Grima and goalkeeper Christian Cassar received the nod ahead of Valerio Senatore.

Oliver Spiteri returned to a 4-3-3 formation in which Micallef floated behind Godwin Mensha and Alfred Effiong.

In the opening stages, Valletta struggled to tame the agile movement and pace of the Balzan duo.

Mensha, in particular, was proving quite a handful for Valletta, supplementing his intelligent movement with some fine dribbling. In the 13th minute, the Nigerian striker was denied by Ryan Camilleri’s timely challenge.

Seven minutes later, Effiong drifted infield with a typical fast run before providing a perfect service for the alert Mensha who bore down on goal only to be blocked by Nicky Vella, who kept his place in Valletta’s goal as Henry Bonello sat on the bench.

Although Valletta were pegged back by Balzan’s fluid football, they were dangerous in counter-attacks.

Their approach produced the first notable chance past the 20th-minute mark when Nafti’s swerving shot was pushed over the bar by Cassar.

This proved to be the prelude to Valletta’s first goal which came against the run of play.

Their opener came from an unlikely source with the hard-working Claudio Pani showing excellent composure as he turned before ramming a first-time shot past Cassar after good work by Nafti who played the final pass.

Valletta were now stroking the ball better and it looked a matter of when not if they would extend their lead.

Nafti saw to that three minutes from half-time. Falcone served the Tunisian winger who shrugged off the close marking of Serrano Valero to arch the ball past the despairing hands of Cassar.

The game remained lively after the break.

Romeu Romao galloped forward down the right wing to feed Falcone but the Argentine striker was stopped when he was about to pull the trigger.

Past the hour, Balzan had a great opportunity to cut the deficit but were thwarted by Vella.

Serrano Valero’s forward ball was tamed by Mensha who looped the ball over the defence but Vella stopped Edison Bilbao Zarate’s header.

Sensing his team’s difficulties to make inroads into the Valletta defence, Spiteri effected a double substitution.

Grima and Ryan Darmanin came on for Samir Arab and Micallef respectively. Fifteen minutes from time, Spiteri also introduced former Valletta midfielder Ryan Fenech who was returning from a long lay-off.

It was Darmanin who made an instant impact in an absorbing match when he headed towards Effiong who nudged the ball past Vella to bring Balzan back into the match.

Balzan pushed forward.

Fenech’s free-kick was headed just over by Clive Brincat. At the death, Effiong fell under the challenge of Jonathan Caruana inside the area but Balzan’s shouts for a penalty were waved away by referee Adrian Azzopardi.

Balzan
C. Cassar-6, M. Focsa-6, J. Grioli-5, G. Mensha-6.5, L. Micallef-5 (67 R. Darmanin), C. Brincat-6.5, A. Effiong-6, S. Arab-6 (67 D. Grima-5), E. Bilbao Zarate-5 (75 R. Fenech), E. Serrano Valero-6, L. Sciberras-6.

Valletta
N. Vella-7, J. Caruana-6, U. Uchenna Calistus-6.5 (76 I. Azzopardi), R. Camilleri-6.5, J. Gill Cruz-6.5, R. Briffa-6, N. Priso-6 (58 L. Cremona-6), F. Falcone-6, C. Pani-7, A. Nafti-7.5 (90 J. Suda), R. Romao-6

Referee: Adrian Azzopardi.

Yellow cards: Falcone; Focsa; Serrano; Cremona; Mensha; Camilleri; Vella.

BOV player of the match: Abdelkarim Nafti (Valletta).

Attendance: 1,126.

Standings

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Hibernians	15	10	4	1	35	16	34
Valletta	15	11	1	3	33	14	34
Birkirkara	15	8	5	2	32	16	29
Floriana	15	9	2	4	24	16	29
Balzan	15	8	2	5	24	19	26
Tarxien	15	7	4	4	24	14	25
Mosta	15	7	4	4	24	16	25
Sliema	15	5	3	7	16	22	18
Pembroke	15	5	2	8	22	27	17
Qormi	15	2	3	10	14	22	9
Naxxar Lions	15	2	2	11	14	43	8
St Andrew’s	15	0	0	15	7	44	0