Stars come to life after substitutions

Vittoriosa Stars 4
St Patrick 1

Vittoriosa Stars continued with their fine run of late, this time handing St Patrick a heavy defeat to leave them embroiled in the troubled zone.

Stars goalkeeper Jean Mathias Vella was in superb form to keep the Saints at bay in the opening stages of the match. But after the half-hour mark, coach Oliver Spiteri effected two substitutions and from then on Vittoriosa never looked back to win the match at a canter.

St Patrick could have easily scored an early goal but a Blendi Gockaj shot was stopped by Vella and Simon Zerafa failed to make contact with the loose ball in front of goal.

Morgan Onurah brought the best out of Vella who turned his shot away for a corner following a Gockaj cross.

The Saints were dictating matters at that juncture and Vella again came to his side’s rescue with a fine save to stop a Spas Spasov effort.

The Stars had a Marcelo Pereira shot going wide after a good move by Leighton Grech and then the latter dribbled past keeper Jonathan Grech but lost his balance and the chance was lost.

St Patrick missed a sitter when Gockaj hit badly with only the goalkeeper to beat following an inviting Spasov ball.

However, Vittoriosa, with substitutes Larry Lagana and Mark Barbara now in the side, woke up and forged ahead just before half-time when Pereira hit home from just inside the area.

Vittoriosa looked a rejuvenated side after the restart and on 50 minutes they made it 2-0 when Pereira beat the offside trap and sprinted down the left before delivering a perfect ball to Grech who slotted home with ease.

Pereira put the game to bed on 65 minutes when profiting from a Matthew Xerri mistake before Juergen Farrugia pulled one back for St Patrick from a free-kick.

However, the Stars had the last laugh on 90 minutes thanks to Josef Dalli who made it 4-1 from a rebound after Grech’s shot had bounced off the upright.

Deep into injury time, Pereira almost made it a hat-trick but his shot hit the crossbar.

Vittoriosa: J.M. Vella, D. Pace (L. Lagana), M. Buttigieg, L. Vella Critien, R. Dos Santos, L. Scerri (J. Dalli), A. Spiteri, R. Brincat (M. Barbara), M. Pereira, G. Muir, L. Grech.

St Patrick: J. Grech, D. Fava, M. Xerri, B. Gockaj (S. Agius), S. Zerafa, C. Camilleri (R. Vella), J. Farrugia, S. Spasov, M. Onurah, A. Galea, E. Grech (A. Ellul).

Referee: Sandro Spiteri.

Best player: Marcelo Pereira (Vittoriosa Stars).

Standings