Briffa, Sammut put City in semis
Hibernians 0Valletta 2Briffa 65; Sammut 73 A team of real ambition must be impervious to romance. Valletta hardened their hearts and made their superiority tell. If Roderick Briffa's opener had left Hibernians chasing the tie, they were amazed by the...
Hibernians 0
Valletta 2
Briffa 65; Sammut 73
A team of real ambition must be impervious to romance. Valletta hardened their hearts and made their superiority tell. If Roderick Briffa's opener had left Hibernians chasing the tie, they were amazed by the coup de grace from Kevin Sammut that knocked them out just as Mark Miller's 10-man side tried to haul their way back.
So, Valletta march on towards the National League 100 Anniversary Cup semi-finals as Ton Caanen's side demonstrated that they fully intend to put their hands on this one-off trophy.
City coach Ton Caanen gave second-choice goalkeeper Nicky Vella his chance to shine while Declan O'Brien was handed a rare start as the return of Kenneth Scicluna provided the team with experience at the back.
The rather bland performance against Tarxien by Hibernians on Saturday sent the alarm bells ringing and coach Mark Miller boldly reshuffled his starting line-up as the Englishman left out Triston Caruana and Chris Camilleri as Etienne Barbara was nowhere to be seen.
Hibernians are struggling in the Premier League but their efforts and industry led to several half-chances in the first half. They were being denied the space and time to create a chance and had only an Adrian Pulis shot to show for their early efforts.
However, Hibs goalkeeper Mario Muscat kept his side on level terms after 15 minutes when he rushed off his line to block Doding Priso.
The first half passed fairly uneventfully as the match started to develop in a fractious affair as rash challenges and stray arms saw play interrupted on a regular basis.
O'Brien had the best chance on the stroke of half-time when he was put clear by Gilbert Agius but his low shot went just wide of the target.
Yet for the first hour, Valletta were below par and certainly during the opening they had little more than these two efforts to show for their endeavours.
But, the Citizens have strength in their play and they blended that with the kind of flair they are famed for to take the lead.
On 65 minutes, Roderick Briffa exchanged a number of passes before curling a shot past Muscat.
On 70 minutes, Hibernians suffered a double blow, when they had Jonathan Pearson sent off for two bookable offences.
Hibernians's big opportunity came shortly after Briffa gave Valletta the lead and Miguel Lopes De Pina will have nightmares about how Vella somehow went down quickly to push away his diagonal shot.
And, while the Paolities tried to stage a rally in search of the equaliser, they started to become overrun by the waves of attacks from the Citizens.
On the 70th minute, Muscat produced a stunning save to deny O'Brien, tipping the ball over the bar.
But Sammut added a second goal on 73 minutes to secure Valletta's win when Hibs defence stood off him and he shot low into the corner after Muscat made a fine double save off O'Brien.
Hibernians: M. Muscat, J. Caruana, E. Herrera, A. Pulis, J. Pearson, A. Xuereb, R. Camilleri, B. Camilleri ('56 T. Caruana), A. Cohen, M. Lopes De Pina ('87 C. Camilleri), E. Morelato ('90 E. Cauchi).
Valletta: N. Vella, K. Scicluna, S. Bezzina, L. Dimech, S. Borg, K. Sammut ('77 D. Falzon), D. O'Brien, G. Agius ('85 T. Scerri), R. Briffa ('80' E. Agius), J. Pace, D. Priso.
Referee: Chris Lautier.
Yellow cards: Pearson, Priso, G. Agius, O'Brien, Xuereb, Morelato.
Red card: Pearson (H) 70.