Għajnsielem F.C.
beat Nadur Youngsters 4-1 in
what was in effect a playoff to
determine who would go on to
challenge leaders Victoria
Hotspurs for the 2009/10 league
championship. The three points
take the Blacks equal on points
with the leaders who have a game
in hand. Hotspurs are expected
to beat Nadur in their next
match. This means that Għajnsielem
will have to beat Victoria H. in
the last match of the season to
force a decider for the
championship. If the Blacks
produce the kind of football
that they conjured at the midway
point in the second half, ten
minutes of football that swept
Nadur off the Gozo Stadium, then
they have a chance.
During that ten-minute stretch
Għajnsielem were unquestionably
better than their opponents at
everything that matters in the
game of football, They showed
greater determination,
technique, speed, and most
importantly, sharpness in front
of goal. Up to that pont the
second half had been a balanced
one, with the score 1-1, the
teams tested each other's
defence sporadically. The Blacks
had threatened through Alex
Simoncic's free-kicks. Nadur
came close by taking advantage
of serious breakdowns in the
Blacks' back four. Nadur had
even managed to hit the net, a
goal that was disallowed for
offside. Joseph Grech had to be
at his courageous best when he
dove at Anthony Portelli's feet
to block the forward's progress
and shot at goal. The Blacks
risked conceding on a series of
Nadur corner kicks that
Għajnsielem's defence could not
clear from its own penalty area.
At this point, the 64th minute,
Simoncic played his most
important card. He brought on
Brian Meilak, who for the second
game running started on the
bench, in place of the exhausted
and slightly injured Franklee
Galea, who had played a
prominent part during the first
act of this drama. Meilak's
introduction provided an
immediate boost to the Blacks,
who slowly but surely started to
take control of the match. The
breakthrough arrived when
following a loose ball from an
Għajnsielem set piece, Attard
played the ball towards
Ferdinando Apap. The Blacks'
defender, who had stayed on
attack, controlled the ball and
hammered it home from close
range for his second decisive
goal in as many matches, and for
the Blacks' go-ahead goal in
this match. Two minutes later,
Thiago dos Santos who had been
ably controlled by Nadur's
defenders, burst through Nadur's
left but his shot found Steve
Sultana's side netting.
In the 76th minute, Simoncic,
hounded throughout this match by
his ex-pupils, players upon whom
he had stressed the importance
of aggressive play in midfield,
played a ball towards Attard.
The Blacks' striker found his
partner with a good pass. The
Brazilian cut across Nadur's
defensive line and shot hard and
low past Sultana for
Għajnsielem's third goal. As the
Blacks' supporters were
celebrating in the stands all
their worries by now washed
away, Nadur nearly scored. No
one knows how he did it, but
Joseph Grech turned a shot
behind for a Nadur corner.
Għajnsielem found it hard to
clear the ball from the corner,
but once they did, they were off
to the races. Attard,
man-of-the-match today, started
the counter-attack by taking the
ball out of his own penalty
area. He ran to the left channel
from where he played the ball to
Thiago dos Santos. The
Brazilian, still winded from the
run that produced the third
goal, saw an opportunity to
switch play. He played a
cross-field ball towards Meilak.
The right midfielder dribbled
unopposed down the right and
once inside the penalty area
played a ball through the
corridor between goalkeeper and
defensive line, and found
Kenneth Mercieca ready to tap
home for the emphatic fourth
goal in what will go down as a
4-1 rout of Nadur.
On came Stefan Azzopardi
(whose place in the starting XI
was taken by an excellent David
Debattista, in a marking role)
for
Mercieca and Glenn Cefai for
Simoncic. The Blacks controlled
play until the end, as Nadur
finally gave up after an unusual
season by their standards.They
had nearly turned the season
around with a series of wins
following a winless second
round. But this result leaves
them hopelessly adrift of both
the Blacks and joint leaders
Hotspurs. This match, one could
argue encapsulates the season
that this powerhouse of local
football has just experienced.
Nadur were outplayed by the
Blacks for the entire first
half. Martin Cremona and company
repelled the Youngsters' forays
well short of Grech's goal. But on their first serious
attack, Nadur nearly scored
through Anthony Portelli, who
missed with his header following
a corner. Għajnsielem made Nadur
pay for this miss, when Galea
took a dos Santos pass and
crossed first time towards
Attard. The diminutive striker
headed brilliantly past Sultana.
As soon as the Blacks forged
ahead, Nadur mounted a reaction
and deep into time added on,
dragged themselves back into the
match. Għajnsielem failed to
clear a hopeful cross into their
penalty area following a Nadur
throw-in, and Anthony Portelli
punished the Blacks by forcing
the ball past Grech.
