HIBERNIANS              1

Apap 58

SLIEMA WANDERERS 0

Hibernians had to draw on their reserves of energy and resilience to battle past Sliema Wanderers.

Ferdinado Apap struck his first goal for Hibernians with a cool finish to condemn Sliema Wandereres to their sixth defeat in nine matches and remain third from bottom.

On the other hand, Hibernians are gaining momentum, and they produced the better stuff and fashioned the better chances after the break as they earned their second successive win in the space of five days.

The Blues were boosted by the return of striker Sow Seydou and left-back Robert Carvajal as they were down to their bare bones with two goalkeepers named on the substitutes’ bench.

Stefano Sanderra, the Hibs coach, named the same starting formation that overcome Sta Lucia last Monday.

In fact, the Hibs coach picked again an attacking side, leaving Terrence Groothusen on the bench and playing with Leonardo Nanni and Artiles Izquier on the wings and Jake Grech behind Imanol Iriberri.

With so many forward-minded players, the Paolites started the match at a furious pace, but Sliema were not ruffled and soon started to create chances.

Edmond Agius crossed an inviting ball into the box before Jonathan Pearson burst through from midfield forcing Marko Jovicic to make a sharp save inside the first ten minutes.

Iriberri skipped past two defenders before seeing his shot blocked by Entonjo Elezaj. The rebound fell to Grech only to drill his shot wide.

Hibs continued to push forward with Grech forcing another save from Elezaj, seven minutes from half-time.

The Sliema goalkeeper was again alert to block Nanni’s shot early in the second half. A flowing move down the right ended when Timothy Tabone Desira's cross found Iriberri but the Spaniard mishit his shot in front of a gaping goal. 

There were still the occasional openings for Sliema, and Sow should have done better with his effort on 53 minutes.

But it was Hibs who were making the better inroads and after seeing another shot by Nanni saved by Elezaj, the Paolites struck.

Dunstan Vella's long-range shot filtered through a sea of Blue shirts to reach Apap who pushed the ball behind the Sliema goalkeeper with an audacious back-heel.

Sliema were now forced to reshuffle their pack and chase the game as Alfonso Greco made a double substitution, throwing into the fray Alex Satariano and Stanimir Miloskovic.

Soon after Satariano ran clear on the left flank but saw his unconvincing shot beaten away by Jovicic.

Tempers boiled over in the closing minutes when Mark Scerri and substitute Alex Wemmer tangled as the Sliema skipper hit the German midfielder in his face and referee Malcolm Spiteri brandished the red card to the Sliema midfielder after he consulted the assistant referee.

Despite the ugly end to the match, this is a game that will be remembered more for a cool finish of Apap rather than the hot heads.