Deadly Doncic sends Sliema five points clear

Pietà Hotspurs 1
Sliema Wanderers 5

The indication was that Sliema Wanderers were to find it hard to dismiss the challenge of a resurgent Pietà Hotspurs side on the back of the two teams' contrasting performances of late.

Trailing Sliema by two points and entertaining high hopes of wresting the title from their rivals' grasp, Birkirkara must have been buoyed by all those pre-match suggestions but the all-Blue encounter yesterday evening at the National Stadium produced an altogether different reality.

Making non-sense of the forecasts, Sliema set about imposing their vastly superior technical and tactical qualities on their lesser opponents who gave hope of pulling off another famous upset long before the final whistle.

Suffice to say that Sliema had already secured their 17th league win by the 47th minute when the deadly Danilo Doncic put them three goals in front as Sliema proceeded to achieve a resounding 5-1 victory to move five points clear of Birkirkara.

The Stripes square up to Marsaxlokk this evening in another match billed as tricky for the title candidates.

Ray Farrugia, the Pietà coach, is likely to have expected Nigerian Orosco Anonam to take over Michael Mifsud's striking duties in tandem with Danilo Doncic for Sliema but that onus fell on Kevin Sammut.

Edward Aquilina's decision to deploy Sammut in an unusual forward position to compensate for the absence the injured Mifsud paid off after seven minutes.

Sliema were awarded a free-kick outside the penalty area after Mauro Di Lello barged into Rupert Mangion to prevent him from charging through on goal.

Joe Brincat's curling free-kick bounced off the post but the rebound came to Doncic who scrambled the ball towards the other post and straight into the path of Sammut who rolled the ball into an untenanted goal.

Ten minutes after their breakthrough, Sliema came close to doubling their lead. The ball was quickly played out of the Sliema area after a feeble Pietà attack had been easily dealt with, Sammut powered down the right flank before swinging over a perfect pass to Doncic inside the Pietà area but out came Darmanin to avert the danger in two attempts.

Sammut was proving a thorn in Pietà's side with his constant running across the pitch. That was very much in evidence when Sammut had possession down the inside-right channel and intelligently served Mangion on the left side of the penalty area but the latter's attempt whizzed across the face of goal.

At the other end, Anatole Debono unleashed a teasing rising shot which Murphy Akanji flicked over the bar.

Sliema though remained predominantly in the driving seat as they continued to pressurise the untypically disjointed Hotspurs' defence. It was no surprise then that Sliema increased their lead seven minutes from half-time.

Mangion was the provider, his excellent through-ball from the middle soaring above the backtracking Pietà defenders before it dropped at the feet of Doncic who sidefooted the ball past the on-rushing Darmanin.

The Wanderers' 2-0 half-time buffer provided a fair reflection of a lopsided first half in which Pietà's rugged and skirmishing style was upstaged by their opponents' superior technical ability.

Farrugia must have had a few harsh words with his players during half-time as Pietà, yesterday without the suspended Branko Nisevic and Keith Fenech and the unavailable Cleaven Frendo - moved around the pitch with more determination soon after the restart but their hesitancy at the back again proved to be their downfall.

Only two minutes from the start of the second period had elapsed when the crafty Mangion whipped a perfect cross from the right towards Doncic who lobbed the ball over Darmanin to virtually put the result beyond Pietà's reach.

Aquilina's men maintained a firm grip on the match, Darmanin fisting away a fierce Stefan Giglio shot.

Farrugia's reaction to his team's slapdash performance was to bring on Sharlon Pace and Malcolm Abdilla instead of Okonkwo and William Borg.

Twenty-one minutes into the second half, Pietà's flagging spirits were slightly lifted when Anatole Debono beat Akanji with a low shot after receiving from the erstwhile anonymous Ivan Woods.

Yet, the Hotspurs' hopes of a miraculous recovery were all but finished when Pace was shown a straight red card by referee Chris Lautier for tripping the goalbound Sammut.

Moments later, Darmanin denied Sliema a fourth goal with a smart save from Anonam. The Pietà goalkeeper distinguished himself once again on 81 minutes when parrying Giglio's penalty, given for Chris Okoh's late challenge on Brincat.

Darmanin could do nothing to deny Doncic scoring his 16th league goal seven minutes from the end of normal time.

The weakened Pietà defence was again caught on the back foot as Brian Said charged forward, ball at his feet, before passing to the advancing Carlo Mamo on the left who in turn floated a teasing cross to Doncic. The next thing the ball was in the net as Doncic's superb first-time volley gave Darmanin no chance.

Minutes after completing his hat-trick, the Serbian striker was replaced by Noel Turner, back in the fray after recovering from a knee operation, to round off a highly enjoyable evening for the Sliema clan.

In time added on, the champions' delight increased when Giglio hammered the ball past Darmanin for a 5-1 victory.

Pietà: S. Darmanin-6, P. Aquilina-5, M. Di Lello-5, C. Okoh-6, D. Okonkwo-4 ('48 S. Pace), G. Sciberras-5, I. Woods-5, W. Borg-4 ('48 M. Abdilla-5), E. Azzopardi-5 ('73 A. Spiteri), A. Ekwe-4, A. Debono-7.

Sliema: M. Akanji-7 ('86 A. Camilleri), J. Brincat-6, C. Mamo-6, B. Said-7, K. Sammut-8, D. Doncic-8 ('86 N. Turner), J. Chetcuti-7, R. Mangion-8, O. Anonam-7, S. Giglio-7, K. Laferla-5 ('32 D. Sylla).

Referee: Chris Lautier.

Scorers: Sammut 7; Doncic 38, 47, 82; Debono 65; Giglio 90.

Yellow Cards: Brincat; Ekwe; Debono; Abdilla.

Red Card: S. Pace 73.

MIA Player of the Match: Rupert Mangion (Sliema W.).