St Patrick leave it late

San Ġwann 0
St Patrick 1

With only one minute to go, Daniel Milovanovic chested down a perfect pass from Luke Sciberras before hitting home past keeper Justin Spiteri and into the back to win three useful points for St Patrick.

Thanks to this success, the Saints hauled themselves out of bottom place, a position that is now ocupied by San Ġwann as the fight to avoid the drop looks likely to go to the wire this season.

St Patrick, who had coach Alfred Attard suspended, again had the influential Thomas Caruana unavailable as San Ġwann were far off their best form in a game that failed to live up to expectations.

San Ġwann were the more adventurous side at first but as the minutes ticked away, the Saints improved. On 22 minutes Gordon Failla almost put them in front but his free-kick landed inches wide of Spiteri's goal. Bronwen Bugeja's grounder forced Spiteri into a diving save as St Patrick were now in control.

A Jurgen Farrugia volley finished just over and Bugeja then zig-zagged his way through but his shot from an angle hit the San Ġwann upright.

Bugeja, very active in the first half, had another shot finishing wide on 33 minutes and Spiteri was alert to keep out Farrugia's volley from the distance.

San Ġwann lifted their game and on 43 minutes they had a Leeroy Bonnet shot that was saved by Sean Mintoff in the Saints' goal. Joe Brincat's team also had the ball in the net just before half-time but Bonnett's header was disallowed for offside.

The match lost most of its interest in the second half as the two teams seemed to have settled for a draw.

San Ġwann, however, should have taken the lead on 79 minutes when Steve Pisani came face to face with the Saints goalkeeper but blasted wide. A minute later, Milovanovic shot weakly into the hands of Spiteri from an ideal position and two minutes from time Mintoff did well to stop Alan Borg's sizzler from 25 metres out.

It looked like a goalless draw was to stay on the scoresheet but then came Milovanovic's goal that left San Ġwann stunned and empty-handed.

San Ġwann: J. Spiteri, Q. Bregman, L. Cumbo, M. Caruana, M. Francica, A. Borg, F. Aboulezz (S. Pisani), L. Bonett, R. Sell, S. Hili, J. Zammit (R. Sammut).

St Patrick: S. Mintoff, M. Pullicino, S. Dimech (D. Pace), M. Fleri Soler, R. Mifsud, B. Bugeja (A. Ellul), L. Sciberras, T. Farrugia, G. Failla, D. Milovanovic, J. Farrugia (R. Cassar).

Referee: Sammy Attard.

Man of match: Daniel Milovanovic (St Patrick).