Dingli trounce Rabat

Rabat Ajax 0
Dingli Swallows 4

Dingli Swallows finished their first round commitments in style by romping home to an easy win over neighbouring rivals Rabat Ajax.

Uchanna Anywanna scored twice and substitute Christopher Ciappara added the other two as the struggling Magpies failed miserably in this derby clash.

Again led by the inspirational Roderick Spiteri, Dingli deserved the points to move closer in the standings to those teams challenging for promotion.

Rabat, on their side, had their moments but are finding it hard to break down defences. They commit too many schoolboy errors as the side still hovers dangerously in the drop zone.

Despite playing without Jeremy Agius and Ciappara starting on the bench, Dingli still carried heavier guns yesterday. They took the lead on nine minutes when Rabat defender Josef Tonna made a mess of a back pass. Mark Galea won possession but was brought down by keeper Jonathan Azzopardi for a penalty.

Anywanna kept his cool to put Dingli one up from the spot.

Rabat responded on 18 minutes with an Adam Smeir shot from the edge of the area that never reached the desired target.

At the other end, Dingli were unlucky not to double their lead when a Clint Caruana scorcher hit the post with the Rabat rearguard scrapping the ball away to safety.

Coach Charles Borg tried to lift the Magpies from the sidelines and it seemed there was some sign of response from his players when Smeir served Darren Galea whose shot was saved by Jeffrey Farrugia.

Just before the break, Farrugia was again on the right spot to deny Rabat from an equaliser following an Adrian Mifsud shot.

Rabat were again close soon after the restart. This time a Joseph Caruana header was stopped in style by the alert Farrugia.

But that was Rabat's best patch and with 16 minutes to go, Anywanna slotted the ball past the opposing keeper after a fine solo run to make it 2-0 for Dingli.

Rabat were lost and seven minutes from time they gave away another penalty for a foul on Anywanna. However, this time Azzopardi stopped the Nigerian's spot-kick.

But, Ciappara made up for Anywanna's penalty miss on 85 minutes when he surprised Azzopardi with a shot from outside the box.

Rabat's woes were compounded with a minute left when Azzopardi was red-carded for unsporting behaviour. Tonna replaced him in goal as the Magpies had already made use of all their substitutions.

Deep into stoppage time, Ciappara made it 4-0 from close range to round up a perfect day for Dingli.

Rabat Ajax
J. Azzopardi, J. Tonna, J. Caruana, V. Cauchi, A. Mifsud, A. Smeir, D. Galea (L. Micallef), D. Falzon (J. Bezzina), M. Micallef (G. Magri), E. Muscat, E. Azzopardi.

Dingli Swallows
J. Farrugia, C. Caruana (E. Casha), R. Spiteri, V. Fiteni, C. Muscat, C. Azzopardi (C. Ciappara), J. Cachia, G. Failla, R. Mintoff, M. Galea (E. Farrugia), U. Anywanna.

Referee: Esther Azzopardi.

Man of the match: Roderick Spiteri (Dingli Swallows).