ŻEJTUN CORINTHIANS 3
ST ANDREWS 2 

Żejtun Corinthians continued their push towards a first-ever promotion to the Premier League on Sunday as they beat fellow promotion hopefuls St Andrews 3-2 at the Centenary Stadium. 

Orosco Anonam’s men made up for their draw against Żebbuġ Rangers on Matchday 14 when coming from behind to see off their promotion rivals.

Corinthians midfielder Jurgen Suda admitted that the thought of sealing Premier League promotion has fueled their determination to reach their objective. 

“The club has been working hard to achieve promotion to the Premier League for the past three years,” Suda told the Times of Malta.

“I think we are all very enthusiastic to reach the top division because the club has never done it before. We’ve got a good chance of making it now.”

With the win on Sunday, Żejtun restored their three-point gap at the top of Division One with 32 points, ahead of Lija Athletic who beat Mqabba on Friday. 

On the other hand, the Saints were overtaken by Qrendi in third place. This defeat is a tough blow to St Andrews’ chances of securing automatic promotion.

Suda, on loan from Valletta, said that he was impressed by Żejtun’s reaction after falling behind.

“I think we were slow in the beginning but (St Andrews) did not have many opportunities except for the opening goal,” Suda admitted.

“We reacted well and by half-time, we were up 2-1. We came out strongly after that and I think our performance deserved the win.

“It was a very important match for us because we had to win to go back up to first place and now we have a very good gap over our nearest rivals.

“Our next matches are just as important. We’ll be trying not to drop any points against Qormi next week and especially in our matches against Qrendi and Lija because we want the gap to be bigger. If we win these, we’ll have a great advantage for the league title.”

The top-of-the-table match lived up to its billing and St Andrews had custodian Nicholas Grima to thank as he was put into action immediately. When Alan Borg Olivier’s interception went the wrong way in the 12th minute, Suda made a run on the flank but was denied by the onrushing Grima. 

Żejtun were made to pay for the miss. A Chibueze Attah’s shot was deflected by a defender and finished just past the upright. From the resultant corner, Miguel D’Alessandro was on hand to head home. 

The Corinthians tried to fight back and they almost equalised on 23 minutes when the unmarked Jojo Ogunnupe was denied by Grima. 

Żejtun found a way through on the half hour as Suda put in a pinpoint cross from the right which went over every defender but not skipper Neil Tabone who was ready to head the ball into the net. 

The leaders found the time for a second goal just before the break with another header, this time by Ogunnupe. Another Suda shot bounced off D’Alessandro, only to fall to the Nigerian who made no mistake. 

Ogunnuppe wasted another golden opportunity on the hour when he lost his balance right in front of goal. But once again, all was forgotten ten minutes later after meeting a Dylan Agius longball, beating D’ Alessandro with speed and hitting towards goal. 

Incidentally, the Saints defender tried to stop the shot but only deviated it into the net as Grima went the other way. 

Fifteen minutes from time, St Andrews tried to force a way back into the match after Degran Jackson picked Mattia Veselji who put the ball past Christian Cassar.

The match was marred by injury in the final stages as during a collision inside the Saints area, D’Alessandro suffered a blow to the head and had to be taken out on a stretcher.

ŻEJTUN: C. Cassar, D. Sowatey, K. Farrugia, C. Grech, N. Tabone, D. Agius, G. Azzopardi, M. Pereira, B. Farrugia, J. Suda (88 A. Mizzi), J. Ogunnupe (84 M. Jallow).

ST ANDREWS: N. Grima, I. Azzopardi, M. Bartolo, M. D’Alessandro (88 M. Muscat), J. Farrugia, L. Borg (68 J. Sixsmith), N. Bradshaw (68 M. Veselji), D. Jackson, A. Borg Olivier, K. Reid, A. Chibueze.

Referee: Malcolm Spiteri,
Scorers: D’Alessandro (S) 15; Tabone (Ż) 33; Ogunnupe (Ż) 39, 72; Veselji (S) 75
Best Player: Jurgen Suda (Żejtun Corinthians),

SUMMARIES

SWIEQI UNITED 1
ŻEBBUĠ RANGERS 1

SWIEQI: C. Abdilla, J. Azzopardi, M. Attard, M. Ivanovic, K. Muscat, M. Farrugia, A. Schembri Wismayer, L. Grech, N. Fernandes, S. Gatt Baldacchino (62 F. Lufi), I. Salis (74 T. Ayorinde).

ŻEBBUĠ: M. Grech, C. Brincat, D. Fava, R. Vella, R. Zammit, S. Buhagiar (82 S. Darmanin), N. Ojuola, W. Borg, M. Del Negro, M. Fagbeja (63 S. Nanapere), L. Chiedozie.

Referee: Aleksandar Jovanovic
Scorers: Muscat (S) 13; Chiedozie (Ż) 42,
Red card: Fernandes (S) 44.

LIJA ATHLETIC 4
MQABBA 2 

LIJA: L. Bonnici, A. White, L. Muscat, C. Giordimaina, C. Cassar, D. Scerri, C. Gauci, R. Fenech (84 A. Galea), K. Seakanyeng, F. Temile, E. Beu.

MQABBA: F. Tabone, M. Caruana, J. Micallef, N. Micallef, D. Micallef, K. Magro, A. Spiteri, Y. Omuro (63 P. Chimezie), A. Ferreira, G. Micallef (78 M. Brincat), E. Sala (78 D. Najm).

Referee: Massimo Axisa.
Scorers: J. Micallef (M) 4; Fenech (L) 44; D. Micallef (M) 48; Seakanyeng (L) 50, 56; Gauci (L) 60.

ST. GEORGE’S 1

QRENDI 4

ST. GEORGE’S: L. Mifsud, A. Marshall, J. Grech, A. Hili, M. Mentosa, C. Cassar (57 K. Camilleri), G. D’Amato (67 A. Gili), S. Le Metayar (67 M. Uritani), B. Dias, L. Bonett, D. Caruana.

QRENDI: D. Zarb, A. Agius, E. Vella, D. Micallef, B. Muscat, D. Azzopardi (82 K. Tanti), D. Sammut, L. Schembri (90 L. Meli), J. Pereira (74 J. Silveira), A. Nilsson, S. Perdomo. 

Referee: Daniel Casha.
Scorers: Nilsson (Q) 47 pen.; Sammut (Q) 68; Silveira (Q) 77; Caruana (S) 86; Schembri (Q) 89.

VITTORIOSA STARS 2 
PEMBROKE ATHLETA 1

VITTORIOSA: D. Bugeja, O. Sidibe, C. Spiteri, A. Galea, I. Abela, J. Briffa, D. Grima, D. Tabone, L. Casha (88 I. Curmi), O. Guerrero (70 S. Shodiya), R. Farias (89 L. Barbosa).

PEMBROKE: P. Schranz, A. Vujovic, Z. Grech, K. Frendo (86 N. Grech), G. Azzopardi (62 D. Camilleri), N. Frendo, T. Fenech, M. Zarb, P. Santos, JP Mifsud Triganza, D. Todorovski (56 Y. Shaba).

Referee: Sandro Spiteri.
Scorers: Mifsud Triganza (P) 6; Casha (V) 61, 93.

PIETÀ HOTSPURS 0

NAXXAR LIONS 4 

PIETÀ: M. Chetcuti, T. bartolo, J. Irimiya (67 J. Ghio), S. Mizzi, D. Vukovic, C. Gauci (54 J. Delmar), N. Pace Cocks (54 J. Scicluna), C. Sammut, N. Pisani, K. Amehi, C. Ze Lucas.

NAXXAR: O. Borg, J. Sciberras, A. Azzopardi, M. Fenech, A. Azzopardi, J. Ellul (82 P. Ellul), S. meilak, B. Osagie (71 G. Xuereb), D. falzon, E. Farias (78 G. Grima), G. Carrara.

Referee: Alex Johnson.
Scorers: Osagie 32, 37; Farias 44; Falzon 80 pen.

FGURA UNITED 2

QORMI 2 
 
FGURA: B. Bartolo, P. Chircop, J. Vella, J. Stensen, J. Barbara, S. Abela (82 T. Grech), G. Ferreira (59 D. Cartella), A. Toncheff, G. Martin (87 S. Hili), G. Galea, A. Berthe.

QORMI: J. Azzopardi, A. Abela, R. Mandic, A. Cassar (84 S. Seychell), N. Ghio, F. Gnindokponou, M. Bustos (46 F. Fladby), I. Zammit, M. Borg (70 Z. Gatt), L. Farrugia, N. Borg.

Referee: Emanuel Grech.
Scorers: Toncheff (F) 29 pen.; Ferreira de Souza (F) 44; Gnindokponou (Q) 64; Mandic (Q) 94.

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