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MATCH REPORT
Għajnsielem F.C. ushered the new
decade with a gritty performance
and a 2-1 win over Nadur Y. The
points lift Għajnsielem 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 Ferdinando 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 Għajnsielem’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
Għajnsielem 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
Għajnsielem’s left midfielder,
looked up and launched
diagonally towards his Brazilian
teammate, sending him through
clear of his marker. Grech
charged off his line, Claudio
Antunes lobbed the ball over the
Blacks' goalkeeper 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,
Għajnsielem 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 Għajnsielem would
face Nadur with a favourable
second half-wind within striking
distance. With time running out
Għajnsielem 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
Għajnsielem slightly better than
Nadur who now seemed to be out
of ideas about how to unsettle
the Blacks. Having said this,
Għajnsielem 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, Għajnsielem 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
Għajnsielem could hold on, or
better still, add to their lead
to put the game beyond Nadur’s
reach. Initially it looked like
Għajnsielem 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
Għajnsielem lost Galea, who was
shown his second yellow card,
things looked bleak. This not
only left Għajnsielem 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 due to a red card. This
brought back some hope that
Għajnsielem would survive
Nadur’s onslaught of high balls.
Għajnsielem, 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.
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