Victoria Hotspurs 1-1 Kalkara United
On Sunday afternoon at the Sirens Stadium, champions Victoria Hotspurs and promotion challengers Kalkara United kicked off the second phase of the Amateur League II, containing the top four teams in the ranking, to be played on a single round basis. The team of coach Bruno Menezes rose to the occasion, keeping their more quoted opponents on a surprising one all draw, working out the well-planned structure of the Brazilian mentor into perfection. The Hotspurs played their usual dominant game, but eventually failed to score the winner.
Kalkara left league Top Scorer Timmy Thomas on the bench, starting with some more steadiness in the back, aiming to hold back the flood of Hotspurs attacks. The tactical plan worked out well but on 24 minutes, the Hotspurs opened the scoring through Rondinely, his 17th league goal of the season, blasting home an unstoppable scorcher from the edge of the box.
The Hotspurs kept on dominating but on 38 minutes, from a swift counter-attack, Kalkara managed to equalise when Jean-Claude Annati beat the off-side trap from an excellent Miguel Perez-Jimenez cross, having the better of Adrian Parnis with an accurate grounder. On the stroke of half-time, lanky Kalkara custodian Liam Lagana performed a great block on a Kurt Borg attempt, avoiding a Victoria Hotspurs lead at the break.
Five minutes after the re-start, Kalkara should have gone ahead with again Perez-Jimenez doing all the hard work on the left flank before crossing to the unmarked Annati, with Parnis blocking the goal attempt in style. The Gozitans responded with a thunderbolt by Shaun Attard close to the hour, which was tipped over the bar by Lagana for a corner.
On 67 minutes, Kurt Borg should have kicked the Hotspurs ahead but failed to find target with only Lagana to beat. Despite a late Hotspurs rally, Kalkara managed to secure a very valuable point which is leaving them, for now, mathematically in the race for the second promotion slot.
Mqabba 3-0 St George’s
Claudio Calleja’s Mqabba are with one leg in the Amateur League I. In front of a sizeable crowd, the largest one so far this season at the Sirens Stadium, Mqabba faced no particular problems to move aside the resistance of St George’s, who played second fiddle to a strong Mqabba side. The Blues, seriously hampered by the absence (due to suspension) of team captain Matthew Gauci, one of their best performers this season, were a disappointing lot who found Mqabba trio Saturday Nanapere, Jairo Andres Viveros and Ryan Dalli up front in splendid shape and goalkeeper Mario Bartolo in an unbeatable mood.
As predicted, plenty of action in the opening phase on Sunday afternoon. Mqabba got the start they wanted by taking an early seventh minute lead when, from a corner action, Viveros was in the right place to tap home in the rebound after the Blues goalkeeper Clive Caruana failed to get hold of a Dalli shot.
The Pioneers’ rear-guard did not look too good on 23 minutes when they lost the ball in the built-up on the edge of their own box, with Caruana initially parading Nanapere’s attempt, but Dalli was on the right place to shoot into an empty net. Not much later, Nanapere provided Dalli with an excellent opportunity to score the third goal but the attempt sailed inches over the crossbar.
On the half hour mark, Viveros manoeuvred himself into a scoring position on the edge of the area but his grounder sailed inches wide. The Cottonera side did try to get back into the match occasionally but whenever there was any danger, there was Bartolo who did well to neutralise various Blues attacks. Mqabba could have been 3-0 up at the break when Dalli was sent in the clear in stoppage time but Caruana did well to block.
St George’s saw more of the ball after the re-start but the Mqabba rear-guard stood firm, cancelling out each and every possible attack. It was a tensed game and right after the hour, coach Edmond Lufi was sent to the stands for excessive remarks on the referees. On 68 minutes, St George’s produced a rare second-half attempt on target through Jaden Camilleri with Bartolo comfortably saving.
The match however lost much of its flair in the last part of the match, with Mqabba happy to defend their advantage and the Pioneers being unable to break the Mqabba defence. Things got further complicated for the Blues when Owen Galea received his second yellow for a reckless foul on 76 minutes, leaving his side to ten. Five minutes later, Dalli gave the Blues the killer-blow with the third Mqabba goal, his second of the afternoon, kicking the Mqabba faithful into party mood. A point against Kalkara on Friday night 28 March is enough to seal their promotion back into the Amateur League I.
TOP SCORERS
17 – Timmy Thomas (Mqabba/Kalkara United), Roberto Monteiro Rondinely (Victoria Hotspurs) & Jairo Andres Viveros (Mqabba)
16 – Aaron Agius (Ghaxaq)
11 – Kurt Borg (Victoria Hotspurs)
