Effiong's treble floors Msida

Qormi 3
Effiong 5, 80, 90
Msida St Joseph 0

A meeting with struggling Msida St Joseph represented an ideal opportunity for Qormi to bag another three vital points that would strengthen their place at the top of the standings, and at the same time boost their scoring record this season.

Yet, Qormi must have learnt a lesson yesterday as based on yesterday's showing they are not necessarily as irrepressible as many think and teams willing to take them on, can make life difficult for them.

After the opening 30 minutes of play, Msida felt like embracing themselves for a heavy defeat after they were totally outplayed by the Premier League leaders.

But things quickly changed as Msida, who had Costa Rican striker Wendell Gabriels making his first appearance, started to put up a much stiffer fight to get back in the match. However, they still failed to make the most of the numerous chances that came their way.

In the end it was Qormi who rounded up the score with two late goals and Mark Marlow's team will have certainly felt hard-done by the final scoreline.

The result lifted Qormi to four points clear of Valletta at the top of the standing, albeit the Citizens face Sliema Wanderers this afternoon.

Inside the opening five minutes, Msida's Lydon Micallef sent Steve Meilak crashing to end Qormi's first serious venture towards the Msida penalty area.

The free-kick was awarded in Joseph Farrugia's territory. He floated in a superb free-cross which Massimo Grima got his head to, with the ball finishing into the path of Alfred Effiong who struck the ball under Manuel Bartolo's body.

With Msida forced to reshuffle their pack and chase the game, Qormi had countless chances to take the result beyond their opponents' reach.

That goal should have signalled the opening of the floodgates but in the first half, both sides wasted chance after chance in a nail-biting game.

Msida's biggest hope of grabbing a lifeline came in the shape of striker Miguel Ciantar.

On 39 minutes, Emiliano Lattes dinked a pass into the path of the 19-year-old who was so eager to get on the ball that he slipped over his efforts.

And just after the break, Ciantar sent a stinging right-foot volley just over the Qormi crossbar after the defence had only half cleared Emiliano Lattes' cross.

At the other end, Effiong wasted a string of chances to put Qormi out of sight. On 21 minutes, the Nigerian striker ran clear of the defence but saw his unconvincing shot beaten away by Bartolo.

Then, on the half hour, he was unlucky to see a goal-bound chip brilliantly hooked away by Tyrone Farrugia who dived desperately to head the ball away.

After 55 minutes, Effiong hit the post from the edge of the box after setting off on a mazy run on the left flank.

The wasted opportunities meant frustration was the over-riding emotion in an entertaining match. And lack of self-belief was most evident on the 70th minute, when with just Bartolo to beat, the Nigerian fired wide of his far post.

Crucially, however Qormi's best chance fell to a defender. On 75 minutes, Jonathan Bondin found himself clean through but as he tried to round Bartolo, he pushed himself too wide and the defence recovered in time to clear the danger.

Five minutes later, Chetcuti played a neat pass to Effiong, who swivelled before sending a low drive arching imperiously behind Bartolo.

The goal provided late comfort to Qormi in a match in which they endured a lot of pressure from a spirited Msida side, particularly in the second half.

At this point, there was only going to be one conclusion to the game, and sure enough Effiong provided it as he applied the coup de grace by running on to Fenech's timed pass to finish confidently just before the final whistle.

Qormi
M. Farrugia-6, R. Dos Santos-6, R. Sammut-6, J. Bondin-6, S. Wellman-6, J. Farrugia-6, K. Fenech-6.5, M. Grima-7, R. Deguara-6, A. Effiong-6.5, Meilak-6 ('21 J. Chetcuti-6).

Msida
M. Bartolo-6, L. Micallef-5.5 ('64 A. Formosa-6) , R. Baldacchino-6, M. Borda-5 , T. Farrugia-6.5, A. Spiteri-6, S. Grima-6, A. Farrugia-6 ('86 I. Curmi),W. Gabriels-5, E. Lattes-6.5, M. Ciantar-6.5.

Referee: Adrian Azzopardi.

Yellow cards: L. Micallef, T. Farrugia, A. Spiteri.

BoV player of the match: Massimo Grima (Qormi).