Pembroke Athleta 2
Vittoriosa Stars 1

Pembroke made sure not to repeat past mistakes as they defeated Vittoriosa Stars 2-1 at the Victor Tedesco Stadium on Monday. The win came following a first-half stunner as the Cottonera side were made to rue their missed opportunities at both ends of the half.

The match was decided in the opening 45 minutes as goals from Luka Mijic and Neil Frendo cancelled out Oscar Guerrero’s opener. After this, it was just a matter of which team had the greatest desire to overcome their previous disappointments as Pembroke had lost to Lija and Vittoriosa fell to Qrendi last week.

Pembroke coach Ramon Zammit explained that despite his team’s performance not being far off from the one against Lija, they “were determined much more this time around”.

“The goals arrived, more from individual play rather than as a team, but one thing which was different today is that we were more clinical in terms of finishing,” the former Pietà Hotspurs coach told the Times of Malta.

“Against Lija last week, we created a lot of chances but unfortunately we also made a lot of mistakes in defence.”

Zammit will now be focusing on St. George’s as Pembroke play the Cospicua side on Sunday.

“I am from Cottonera and I know very well that these teams are very determined as we saw today,” Zammit said.

“Cottonera sides never give up and keep on coming at you until the very last minute, no matter the score. So we’ll need to prepare much more.”

The Pembroke coach said that he expects a very balanced Division One championship this season.

“We will see teams rise and fall depending on the matches they play so I believe there’s a lot to come and I’m sure it will be an interesting season,” he remarked.

The star of the show for the Pembroke, Pedro Santos, echoed the words of his coach as he admitted they could have done better on the night.

“Today I think it was not the best match for our team but we fought for every ball and we got the goals,” Santos said.

“Even last game, we were losing early on so it was very difficult to come back. Today they (team-mates) gave me a long ball which is something we trained for during the week and I managed to give that pass to Luka (Mijic) and the goal gave us confidence. Of course the second goal was a boost for us.”

Vittoriosa looked to take control of the match early on with Oscar Guerrero forcing Philip Schranz’s first save after just seven minutes. They tried again a minute later but Triston Abela Wilson’s overhead kick went wide.

However, the Stars forged ahead in the 13th minute with a Guerrero penalty after Renann Farias was hacked inside the box by Aleksandar Vujovic.

The goal got the Stars in an even better mood to attack as they fired multiple shots, but they failed to muster any of them on target.

Nevertheless, their efforts resulted in Pembroke affecting their first change on the half hour, bringing on Matthew Brincat for Aleandro Sultana.

At the other end, Vittoriosa’s defence was strong but Pembroke managed to find a way into the fort on 36 minutes as a long-ball found Santos who produced a pin point cross which left Mijic with the simple task of scoring the tap-in.

This goal raised Pembroke’s spirits as they hit another, seconds before half-time.

It was Frendo this time, who got away from his marker and fired a bullet of a shot from distance into the top corner with Reds’ keeper Zach Valletta having no chance of reaching it.

The second half proved to be a battle of wits where Pembroke’s custodian had to put in a shift as Vittoriosa looked for a way back into the match.

Vittoriosa brought on Luca Casha for Keith Vella and the former threatened twice but could not get past Schranz.

Pembroke countered with a change of their own three minutes later as scorer Mijic was replaced by Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza.

The former Birkirkara and Ħamrun Spartans striker nearly closed off the game in the dying moments but failed to control in front of goal.

Pembroke: P. Schranz, A. Vujovic, G. Azzopardi, D. Camilleri, T. Fenech, L. Mijic (73 J. Mifsud Triganza), A. Sultana (32 M. Brincat), A. Smeir (85 D. Isakovic) , N. Frendo, P. Santos, Y. Tonna.

Vittoriosa: Z. Valletta, J. Briffa, I. Abela, G. Sultana, D. Tabone, A. Galea, K. Vella (70 L. Casha), O. Guerrero, R. Farias, P. Papadakis, T. Abela Wilson

Referee: Matthew Degabriele.

Scorers: Guerrero (V) 13 pen; Mijic (P) 36; Frendo (P) 45.

Best Player: Pedro Santos (Pembroke Athleta).

Żebbuġ Rangers 2
Swieqi United 1

Żebbuġ: M. Grech, D. Fava, M. Del Negro, R. Zammit, S. Buhagiar, S. Nanapere, R. Cutajar (46 W. Borg), F. Muda (90 A. Williams), C. Brincat, N. Ojuola, G. Gesualdi.

Swieqi: E. Gatt, J. Azzopardi, S. Bugeja, M. Ivanovic, K. Sultana (73 L. Zammit), M. Farrugia, A. Schembri Wismayer, G. Bugeja (56 K. Muscat), R. Taliana, I. Salis, F. Nunes (66 T. Ayorinde).

Referee: Ezekiel Barbara;

Red card: Zammit (S) 82.

Scorers: Nunes (S) 10; Muda (Ż) 45, 75.

Mqabba 1
Lija Athletic 2

Mqabba: F. Tabone, M. Caruana, J. Micallef, A. Ferreira, K. Xuereb (61 G. Micallef), M. Ion-Alin (71 Y. Omuro), P. Chimezie, J. Spiteri (90 D. Micallef), N. Micallef, K. Magro, K. Camilleri.

Lija Athletic: L. Bonnici, C. Cassar (79 M. Clinch), L. Muscat, E. Beu, A. Borg, K. Seakanyeng (89 H. Wood), C. Giordimaina, A. Galea (81 D. Scerri), C. Gauci, A. White, M. Palomino.

Referee: Emanuel Grech.

Red card: Magro (M) 74; Camilleri (M) 86.

Scorers: Micallef (M) 24; Beu (L) 26, 87 pen.

Qormi 3
Fgura United 1

Qormi: J. Azzopardi, A. Abela, F. Gusman, J. Lokando, A. Cassar, M. Borg, N. Gauci (75 C. Debattista), B. Grech, S. Grech (63 C. Farrugia), F. Gnindokponou, R. Silva (63 C. Matombo).

Fgura: B. Bartolo, P. Chircop, J. Cassar, J. Vella, C. Valero, S. Borg, T. Grech, K. Gandini (77 A. Tocheff), G. Martin (77 A. Scicluna), G. Galea (61 S. Hili), D. Cartella.

Referee: Andrea Sciriha

Red card: Lokando (Q) 90.

Scorers: Grech (F) 3; Lokando (Q) 8 pen; Silva (Q) 26; Gusman (Q) 35.

Naxxar Lions 1
Pietà Hotspurs 1

Naxxar: O. Borg, A. Buhagiar, B. Essel, M. Fenech, M. Mifsud, R. Cassar, J. Debono, D. Falzon, S. Meilak, E. Farias, G. Carrara.

Pietà: J. Chircop, D. Vukovic, L. Adamec, J. Irimiya, S. Okoh, C. Gauci, N. Pace Cocks, N. Pisani, C. Bouvet, J. Scicluna, C. Ze Lucas.

Referee: Slobodan Petrovic.

Red card: Gauci (P) 86; Scicluna (P) 87.

Scorers: Farias (N) 15 pen; Ze Lucas (P) 90 pen.

Qrendi 1
St George’s 1

Qrendi: D. Zarb, A. Curmi (52 B. Muscat), S. Radovanovic, L. Martinelli, A. Agius, D. Azzopardi, E. Vella, D. Santos da Hora (78 J. Silveira), C. Camilleri, A. Nilsson, L. Schembri.

St George’s: J. Azzopardi, A. Marshall, L. Cutajar, C. Park (57 M. Uritani), J. Grech, A. Hili, L. Bonett, C. Cassar, S. Perdomo (87 T. Hiruma), J. Dalli, D. Caruana.

Referee: Daniel Portelli.

Scorers: Schembri (Q) 41 pen; Perdomo (S) 81 pen.

Red card: Zarb (Q) 81.

St Andrews 1
Żejtun 1

St Andrews: N. Grima, I. Azzopardi, M. D’Alessandro, R. Martin (79 D. Jackson), W. Camilleri, M. Bartolo, M. Potezica, L. Borg (65 A. Borg Olivier), J. Farrugia, M. Veselji, K. Reid.

Żejtun: C. Cassar, L. Cassar Jackson, D. Sowatey, K. Farrugia, A. Mizzi, J. Busuttil, D. Agius, R. Mariaga (82 J. Ogunuppe), S. Ribeiro, J. Suda, A. Carabott.

Referee: Ishmael Barbara

Scorers: Ribeiro (Ż) 3; Reid (S).