Ghajnsielem F.C. ushered the new decade with a gritty performance and a 2-1 win over Nadur Y. The points lift Ghajnsielem into a tie for second place with Nadur, two points behind idle leaders Victoria H. The Blacks had to dig deep in the last quarter of the match during which they had Kenneth Mercieca and Franklee Galea harshly sent off for two yellow cards.

Hero of this match was teenage sensation Ferdinand Apap, who not only dominated central defence, but also took it upon himself to score the winner. This was Apap’s first goal for the senior side, in his 20th appearance, after a prolific career with the youths. The eye-catching youngster can do no wrong and his grasp of the requirements of his role has lifted the game of the two veterans playing as stoppers in front him. Glenn Cefai and Martin Cremona did a wonderful job neutralizing for most of the match the threat of Nadur’s front pair the Brazilian Claudio Antunes and the Englishman Kyle Russell.

The Blacks had numerous anxious moments in the penalty area, particularly following viciously struck Alex Simoncic free-kicks and corner-kicks. Although at times not entirely convincing, goalkeeper Joseph Grech survived all of them and to his credit kept his poise to pounce on all second balls.

David Debattista reprised his role as Franklee Galea’s partner in midfield. The two had the task of stopping the flow of diagonal balls that Nadur like to play to their forwards from the feet of the likes of Simoncic and captain Anthony Portelli, who plays behind the strikers in an essentially free role.

The caution in Ghajnsielem’s approach to the big matches is personified in Joseph Buttigieg and Brian Meilak, who are extremely restrained on the wings. They rarely ventured forward and as a result Ghajnsielem had to rely on the invention of Kenneth Mercieca, Rodrigo Cariaga and Thiago dos Santos, the only three offensive-minded players in the starting eleven.

Nadur, perennial breakers of Blacks hearts, seemed to have read the script ahead of time. They patiently exchanged possession with the Blacks and enjoyed a slight territorial advantage in the first half hour. They were clearly waiting to pounce on a Blacks mistake. Said mistake duly arrived in the 32nd minute. It seemed innocuous at first. David Debattista passed the ball to Mercieca expecting him to zig, instead Mercieca zagged. Anthony Portelli promptly dispossessed Ghajnsielem’s left midfielder, looked up and launched diagonally towards his Brazilian teammate, sending him through clear of his marker. Grech charged off his line, the Brazilian lobbed the ball and the ball bounced across the line and into the net. There was a disturbing sense of déjà vu about all this.

This was an unfortunate turn of events because just moments before Nadur had taken the lead, Ghajnsielem had shown the best move of the match to that point with Cariaga serving Mercieca who powered inside Nadur’s penalty area but then blasted high above Nadur’s goal.

Consistent with their apprehension at exposing their defence needlessly against the free-scoring Blacks, Nadur did not press for a quick second. The Blacks, having less to lose being already a goal down, pushed some more men forward, forcing Nadur deeper into their own half. This improved the chances that Ghajnsielem would face Nadur with a favourable second half-wind within striking distance. With time running out Ghajnsielem earned a fortuitous corner-kick. The ball bounced inside Nadur’s penalty area and Thiago dos Santos swung his leg through it and swept it into the net for a shock equalizer.

The second half started with Ghajnsielem slightly better than Nadur who now seemed to be out of ideas about how to unsettle the Blacks. Having said this, Ghajnsielem were collecting yellow cards at an alarming rate. In the best move of the match, Meilak served dos Santos down the right. The Brazilian played pass-and-go with Cariaga. The Argentinean, who rarely wastes a teammate’s run, first-timed the return pass. Dos Santos crossed hard from near the bye-line. Mercieca met the ball in mid-air, but the timing was slightly off and the ball went harmlessly by Steve Sultana’s goal. Meilak from a corner and Cariaga following a free-kick tried their luck from long range but both failed to find the net.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, Ghajnsielem earned a free-kick half-way inside Nadur’s half near the right side-line. Cariaga took charge. He swung a delightful cross that was met with conviction by Apap, who headed the ball down past Sultana’s desperately stretched right arm. Ironically, this goal came instants after Nadur’s best chance of the half when Grech and Cremona combined to block a Nadur header from point blank range at Grech’s second post.

The question was whether Ghajnsielem could hold on, or better still, add to their lead to put the game beyond Nadur’s reach. Initially it looked like Ghajnsielem were too organized to be undone by a Nadur team that somehow could not lift their game, as they always seem to do in these situations against the Blacks. But when with twenty minutes to go Ghajnsielem lost Galea, who was shown his second yellow card, things looked bleak. This not only left Ghajnsielem at a numerical disadvantage but meant that the Blacks’ body had lost one of its lungs. When Mercieca emulated Galea and collected his own pair of yellow cards, in the 75th minute, the supporters quickly started to reassess what would constitute a good outcome from this encounter. In the middle of the mayhem that ensued Mercieca’s dismissal, Nadur’s Simoncic walked off the pitch. For reasons that were not clear at the time, Nadur also lost a player. This brought back some hope that Ghajnsielem would survive Nadur’s onslaught of high balls.

Ghajnsielem, in all-black, held on for a precious win that keeps them with a chance for league honours and lifts them further away from last place, which is still too close for comfort.

30 Joseph Grech, 3 Ferdinand Apap, 4 David Debattista, 5 Rodrigo Cariaga, 6 Joseph Buttigieg (c), 7 Brian Meilak, 8 Kenneth Mercieca, 15 Martin Cremona, 18 Thiago dos Santos, 19 Glenn Cefai, 20 Franklee Galea.