SLIEMA WANDERERS 0
MOSTA 1
Xuereb 88
Dexter Xuereb was the toast of Mosta yesterday as the young midfielder scored a dramatic late winner to hand the Blues an impressive win over Sliema Wanderers on Friday.
It looked as though Mosta and Sliema would be heading home with a point in the bag after cancelling each other for much of the 90 minutes.
But it had to be a moment of magic from Xuereb that settled the match as his late strike earned Mosta their third successive win that lifted them to third place in the standings on 13 points, level with Gżira and Sirens, who however, have a game in hand.
On the otherhand, it was another blow for the Wanderers who, with just one win from eight matches, remain third from bottom on five points.
Sliema coach handed a debut to their latest signing, Italian goalkeeper Entonjo Elezaj, who rejoined the Wanderers this week. John Mintoff, Mark Scerri and Jean Paul Farrugia were all drafted in the starting formation with Stanimir Miloskovic, Alex Satariano and Robert Diaz making way.
Mosta, on their part, made two changes to the team that beat Sta Lucia last week as Edin Murga and Jean Diouf were preferred to Dimitri Kassekar and Mamadou Yallow.
The match was evenly balanced in the opening stages with neither side managing to take an edge over their opponents with scoring chances few and far between.
The first semblance of a scoring opportunity arrived on 33 minutes when Claudio Zappa sent a low cross towards Jean Paul Farrugia but the Malta striker just failed to make contact with the ball and Mosta cleared.
Mosta responded four minutes later when Weverton sped clear on the left and his low cross found Akeem Roach. The Trinidan forward’s cross shot was deflected into the path of Murga who saw his thumping drive tipped over by Elezaj.
From resultant corner, the Sliema keeper saw great reflexes to thwart Rafael from close in.
At the other end, Farrugia came close with a shot from the distance that just missed the bar.
The match maintained the same script in the second half with both teams showing a lot of promise but still struggled to create chances.
Mosta protested for a penalty on 55 minutes when Nicola Kotlov was sandwiiched in between Kurt Shaw and Jonathan Pearson inside the area. But referee Alan Mario Sant was unmoved and harshly booked the American forward for simulation.
Sliema came close on 57 minutes when they were awarded a free-kick and Claudio Zappa’s shot was wells aved by Andreas Vella while five minutes later Cisotti’s shot hit the side-netting.
As the minutes passed it looked as though that the match would end in a goalless stalemate as neither team was creating enough to force a breakthrough.
But Dexter Xuereb had other plans as two minutes from time he let fly a brilliant curling drive that nestled into the top corner to the delight of the Mosta fans.
Sliema tried to hit back and came close through Kurt Shaw but his volley was blocked as Mosta held on.