GŻIRA UNITED 0
SIRENS 1
Cheveresan 75
Surprise-package Sirens handed Gżira United their first domestic defeat of the season as the St Paul’s Bay side’s fairy-tale start to the season continued on Sunday.
Stephen D’Amato’s side rode their luck at times with Gżira hitting the woodwork on three occasions but they kept themselves in thegame, hitting back with header from Flavio Cheveresan that handed Sirens the three points that lifted them above the same Maroons in second place in the standings.
Gżira made a confident start and midfielder Juan Carlos Corbalan delivered the first blow of the match within the first six minutes.
Some lovely triangulation down the right flank by Clifford Gatt Baldacchino and Jefferson worked an opening into the box for the Malta winger who powered his way through before unleashing a rising shot that came off the woodwork with David Cassar beaten.
At the other end, Wellington Oliveira and Emmanuel Okoye both served early notice of their intentions. First, Wellington cut inside the left touchline, and slipped from Gianmarco Conti’s challenge to sidefoot a tame shot straight into the hands of Justin Haber.
Okoye, then teased and tormented Gatt Baldacchino as he bore down the left flank and his shot from a tight angle was beaten away by Haber.
Past the half hour mark, Nikolai Muscat’s superbly flighted free-kick was pushed away by Cassar.
On 36 minutes, another Okoye effort was parried superbly by the Gżira goalkeeper who was emerging the winner in what was developing into a personal duel with his former team-mate.
Just before half-time, Muscat picked out Jefferson to head against the foot of the post as Gżira were again rueing their ill-luck.
Gżira’s inability to defend that right flank prompted Tedesco to bring on Andrew Cohen in lieu of Corbalan at half-time and switch to the 4-2-3-1 configuration.
But when Cheveresan dispossessed Conti in midfield, an inviting chance beckoned Sirens as Wellington chested the ball for Romario Memez on the edge of the area. However, the Sirens midfielder slipped as he planted his standing foot and the result was a miss of sky-high proportions.
On 73 minutes, Arthur Oyama produced a cross-shot that deceived Sirens goalkeeper Cassar as the ball crashed against the crossbar once more.
But it was SIrens who took the lead after 75 minutes. Okoye swung in a perfect cross from the left and Cheveresan was on hand to head home.
Gżira now stepped up their efforts in a bid to save the match and Samb almost grabbed a late equaliser but his header was cleared off the line by Sirens defender Raphael.
The drama was not yet over as Kone was dismissed after picking up his second yellow card for protests to cap a miserable day for Gżira.