SENGLEA ATHLETIC 2

Zamble 63, Marukawa 76

SLIEMA WANDERERS 0

Senglea Athletic increased the pressure on Sliema Wanderers as they cruised to victory at the Centenary Stadium.

It was a deserved win which earned the Athletic the third spot in the standings alongside Hamrun Spartans who have a game in hand.

Sliema, meanwhile, lost their fourth game in seven and coach Alfonso Greco will be concerned by the lacklustre nature of their performance.

The game started brightly, with both teams playing good, open football.

Mario Muscat, who has forged a positive and efficient unit, had clearly instructed his charges to push forward from the outset.

And they did, with Nicholas Virano and Marukawa Taisei both having chances to give Senglea the early initiative.

Virano was almost on target inside the first five minutes with a header but it was clutched at the near post by Jake Galea.

The Argentine who proved a handful for the Sliema defence, thought he broke the deadlock when, having got in front of Kurt Shaw hit the ball past Galea only to see referee Alex Johnson ruled out his ‘goal’.

Sliema had another narrow escape just on 45 minutes when Senglea took to have a legitimate claim for penalty when Virano hit the ball goalwards but the ball came off Michele Sansone’s arm.

Alexander Satarino almost put Sliema in front shortly before the break, but his shot took a slight deflection and drifted inches wide of the Senglea goal with Anthony Curmi stranded.

Alfonso Greco’s side were reduced to 10 men on the hour mark, when Robert Carvajal, who had already been booked, was given a red card for a second clumsy challenge on Marcelo Dias.

Senglea immediately made their numerical superiority count when Wilfried Zamble got on to the end of Marukawa’s cross to head home.

This double blow stunned Sliema, whose confidence visibly drained away as Senglea grew in stature.

On 73, Virano tried to lob the ball over Galea only to see the goalkeeper react to touch the ball just over the crossbar.

Minutes later, substitute Jan Tanti, with his first touch of the ball, was the creator with an astute ball into the ball, which allowed Marukawa to demonstrate his pace before beating Galea.

Senglea coasted to the final whistle to continue their excellent start to the season under Muscat.

Taisei Marukawa of Senglea Athletic was named BOV Player of the match.