Żejtun Corinthians 2
Pembroke Athleta 2

Żejtun Corinthians skipper Adrian Carabott expressed his concern after the Blues twice blew the lead against Pembroke Athleta at the Centenary Stadium on Sunday.

Carabott got one of Żejtun’s goals on the day but it was not enough as an even battle between the two sides culminated in the closing minutes with Pembroke earning a much desired point at the death in spectacular fashion.

“As a team, we’re playing good football and the matches are mostly in our hands but obviously it all depends on our opponents. We missed important chances during the 90 minutes today, they attacked and scored,” Carabott explained.

“We are now focusing on the next match, hoping to turn the page because we’ve won just one game in five. In my opinion, we were good in all the games but that is football in the end.”

On the other end, Pembroke mentor Ramon Zammit told the Times of Malta he believes this was his team’s best performance so far despite many setbacks.

“We’ve got a lot of injuries and this is not letting us field the best 11 or experiment with different formations because we’ve had to look at what we have and adapt,” he said.

“But I still think today was our best game out of the previous four. We played well, if not better than our opponents. We adopted a plan to exploit the spaces left by the opponent – I think we were great on the break.

“Tomorrow I’ll be busy looking at what we’ve got. Because we’re so limited right now, with every change you have to arrange the whole plan. Today we’ll stick with the result and tomorrow we’ll see what we can improve.”

The Reds kicked off the match but were caught off guard by Corinthians forward Rafael Mariaga immediately, chesting a long ball from defence and firing his team ahead after just 40 seconds. Zammit admitted that this lack of concentration had become a ‘bad habit’ in the past few games and while making it clear he does not excuse it, he said: “We’re no longer shocked by it and despite it not being something good, it gives us time to produce a reaction.”

That being said, Pembroke got into their system and earned their equaliser soon after.

A free-kick from the right in the fourth minute saw a confused Żejtun defence struggle to communicate clearing the effort which eventually led to them missing the ball completely and gifting a close range chance to Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza, who made no mistake.

Mifsud Triganza, who is one of the more experienced players in the side, played a vital role in keeping things steady for Pembroke.

“Because we played deep, we didn’t need a striker who was constantly running after long balls. We wanted a player who can hold the ball so Jean Pierre comes into the plan perfectly,” Zammit said.

While Żejtun’s defence began to look shaky in the first half, they made up for it on the offence as JoJo Ogonuppe reached another long ball and his cross hit Aleandro Sultana’s outstretched arm on 17 minutes with referee Fyodor Zammit pointing to the spot. Jurgen Suda will surely rue his error as he attempted a weakly chipped shot which was easily caught out by Pembroke custodian Philip Schranz.

This was considerably one of the easier stops Schranz had to make on Sunday, being solid throughout the game.

The Corinthians thought they had gotten the winner 13 minutes from time as Carabott coordinated with Suda just inside the area and the Żejtun skipper hit an unreachable strike into the bottom left corner.

The drama was not over yet, however, as right at the death, a Pembroke throw-in gave them the opportunity to launch a cross over the battleground in front of goal. Mattia Zarb rose behind all the commotion to volley a one-time finish which fell into the top corner of Christian Cassar’s goal.

Żejtun: C. Cassar, L. Cassar Jackson, D. Sowatey, K. Farrugia, D. Agius, A. Mizzi, N. Tabone, R. Mariaga (59 R. Santos), J. Suda (78 J. Iwueke), A. Carabott, J. Ogonuppe (85 M. Pereira).

Pembroke: P. Schranz, Y. Shaba, A. Sultana, G. Azzopardi (89 C. Camilleri), T. Fenech, M. Brincat, D. Camilleri, P. Santos, A. Smeir (72 M. Zarb), Y. Tonna, J.P. Mifsud Triganza (80 L. Mijic).

Referee: Fyodor Zammit.

Best Player: JoJo Ogonuppe (Żejtun).

Summaries

Naxxar Lions 3
Qormi 0

Naxxar: O. Borg, J. Sciberras, B. Essel, R. Cassar, M. Fenech, M. Mifsud, S. Meilak, J. Debono (77 J. Ellul), D. Falzon, G. Carrara (91 A. Azzopardi), E. Farias (93 G. Xuereb).

Qormi: J. Azzopardi, A. Abela, F. Gusman, N. Gauci (69 S. Grech), N. Ghio, F. Gnindokponou, B. Grech (53 T. Gusman), M. Borg, C. Matombo, R. Santos Silva, L. Farrugia (84 C. Debattista).

Referee: Aleksandar Jovanovic

Scorers: Falzon (N) 24; Farias (N) 66; Ellul (N) 80.

Red card: Mifsud (N) 62.

Swieqi United 1
Qrendi 3

Swieqi: E. Gatt, J. Azzopardi, S. Bugeja, M. Ivanovic, K. Muscat, K. Sultana, A. Schembri Wismayer (68 L. Grech), R. Taliana, F. Fernandes, I. Salis (59 B. Albuquerque de Souza), G. Bugeja (59 C. Pace).

Qrendi: D. Zarb, S. Radovanovic, L. Martinelli, S. Schembri, A. Curmi, B. Muscat, D. Azzopardi (81 M. Farrugia), D. Sammut (76 C. Camilleri), L. Schembri, D. Santos da Hora, A. Nilsson (63 F. Silveira).

Referee: Mario Apap.

Scorers: Radovanovic (Q) 14; Nilsson (Q) 54; Sammut (Q) 59; F. Fernandes (S) 87. 

Pietà Hotspurs 3
Vittoriosa Stars 0

Pietà: M. Chetcuti, T. Bartolo, L. Adamec (27 J. Ghio), D. Vukovic, Q. Bregman, J. Irimiya, N. Pace Cocks, N. Pisani (84 S. Pisani), J. Scicluna (61 J. Bone), C. Bouvet, C. Ze Lucas.

Vittoriosa: Z. Valletta, C. Spiteri, I. Abela, J. Briffa, K. Vella, L. Gauci (90 G. Calleja), A. Ellul, G. Sultana, A. Galea (81 I. Curmi), R. Farias, O. Guerrero.

Referee: Slawomir Olucha.

Scorers: Ze Lucas (P) 38; Bouvet (P) 52, 90.

Żebbug Rangers 0
St Andrews 2

Żebbug: M. Grech, D. Fava, R. Vella, G. Gesualdi, C. Brincat, M. Del Negro, W. Borg, N. Ojuola, S. Buhagiar, M. Fagbeja (86 A. Williams), S. Nanapere.

St Andrews: N. Grima, I. Azzopardi, M. D’Alessandro, R. Martin, M. Bartolo, D. Curmi, J. Farrugia, D. Jackson (92 M. Veselji), L. Borg (79 W. Camilleri), A. Borg Olivier, K. Reid.

Referee: Massimo Axisa

Scorers: Farrugia (S)18; Reid (S) 83.

Red card: Gesualdi (Ż) 80; I. Azzopardi (S) 77.

St. George’s 2
Lija Athletic 4

St George’s: J. Azzopardi, C.H. Park, J. Grech, A. Hili, T. Hiruma (79 R. Sneider Villada), G. D’Amato (90 A. Mallia), C. Cassar (79 J.P. Formosa), L. Bonett, J. Dalli, S. Perdomo, D. Caruana.

Lija: L. Bonnici, A. White, C. Giordimaina, L. Muscat (79 J. Wells), M. Clinch, A. Borg (17 D. Scerri), A. Galea, C. Gauci, K. Seakanyeng, M. H. Palomino (75 G. Borg), E. Beu.

Referee: Sandro Spiteri.

Scorers: Beu (L) 20, 72, Palomino (L) 24, Galea (L) 45; Caruana (SG) 81, 89.

Fgura United 3
Mqabba 4

Fgura: L. Moore, J. Cassar, A. Scicluna (64 J. Stensen), C. Valero (78 A. Cilia Mumford), J. Barbara, S. Borg, T. Grech, C.K. Gandini, S. Hili (78 A. Toncheff), D. Cartella, G. Galea.

Mqabba: F. Tabone, M. Caruana, J. Micallef, K. Magro, K. Camilleri, D. Micallef, C. Cutajar (62 J. Spiteri), A. Dos Santos Ferreira , I.A. Margarit (61 Y. Omuro), G. Micallef (68 K. Xuereb), P. Chimezie. 

Referee: Ezekiel Barbara.

Scorers: Chimezie (M) 7, 76; Grech (F) 50; Valero (F) 55; Ferreira Dos Santos (M) 71; Gandini (F) 79; Camilleri (M) 81.