Good week for Wanderers

Robert Arrigo, the Sliema Wanderers president, had good cause to be happy on Wednesday. On a day when the Hibs Ground received UEFA's nod to host Champions League matches after endless controversy surrounding the venue for Sliema's home leg, the Maltese champions, bolstered by some significant new signings bankrolled by Arrigo, achieved a 2-0 victory over FC Skonto.

Arrigo and Dr Joe Mifsud, the Malta FA president, had also been embroiled in a war of words in the lead-up to the game but on Wednesday, there was no hint of animosity as the two savoured a rare victory for a Maltese team in Europe.

Dr Mifsud also visited the home team's dressing room after the game to congratulate the players for their performance.

Sliema have also been buoyed by the news that they will travel to Latvia on a direct flight after Air Malta, the national airline company, agreed to divert one its scheduled flights to Latvia to accommodate them.

The only sad note for Sliema is that only a limited number of seats are available on the flight.

"Our squad will be made up of 17 players instead of the usual 18 because there are not enough seats available," Arrigo told The Times.

"We have no other option but to send a token contingent to Latvia."

Arrigo, who was at the helm of Sliema when they beat Margveti of Georgia 3-0 in 1996 to move into the second round of the UEFA Cup 4-3 on aggregate, said Wednesday's 2-0 victory exceeds their previous achievement.

"It's the best result obtained by Sliema in European competition in the last few years," Arrigo said.

"To take a 2-0 lead into the second leg is very encouraging."

Arrigo, who was also elected to Parliament in last April's general elections, believes that the team can make quite an impact on this season's Champions League if they shed their early-season rustiness.

"If the players fine-tune their passing, I believe we can go further. However, we also have to accept that this was the team's first competitive game this season."

A tie against FC Copenhagen, of Denmark, in the second qualifying round of the Champions League, would yield a bonus in the region of Lm500 to the Sliema players.