Għajnsielem F.C. went into
this match outwardly confident
of getting a result against the
highly-rated Sannat Lions. But
one suspects that behind this
facade there was serious
apprehension within the ranks.
Sannat has assembled together
some of the best players in Gozo
including the Camilleri
brothers, Chris and John,
ex-Nadur defender Buttigieg, ex-Kerċem
Ajax Elton Vella and more. This
collection of players showed its
potential with an emphatic win
over Nadur on Sunday. Taking
them on this evening were the
walking wounded Blacks.
Għajnsielem, who earlier this
week bolstered the coaching
ranks by welcoming aboard
Dominic Grech, he of the stellar
playing career with Victoria
Hotspurs and equally impressive
coaching career with, among
other, Victoria Hotspurs and
Żebbuġ Rovers, had to do without
the services of regular
goalkeeper Joseph Grech and
stopper David Debattista, both
injured. In addition, Jason
Portelli, Joseph Attard II and
N'dayi Kalenga all were pressed
into action even though far from
fully fit. So the Blacks were
either going to be taken apart
by the Lions or about to pull
off a memorable win.
And you know what, they did it.
The Blacks beat the Lions and
deservedly so. Għajnsielem,
noisily urged on by their
numerous supporters including
the entire Under/14 team, and
silently but conspicuously
encouraged by the Nadur high
command, did not display
any signs of inferiority from
the kick-off and their
persistent good play clearly
rattled their opponents. The
confident ball handling by
Richard Sammut not only filled
the stand-in goalkeeper with
confidence but wiped away any
anxiety that may have resided in
the heads of the outfield
players. Sammut showed
remarkable poise for a player
who one minute is riding the
bench as cover for the
ever-improving Grech, the next
he is thrown, to the Lions,
seriously though, he was facing
a team with frightening
firepower. In Chris Camilleri
and Elton Vella alone, for
example, Sannat possess players
who have the ability to will
their team to a win. Camilleri,
especially, has a history of
deciding matches in his team's
favour at the Blacks' expense.
Ferdinando Apap's return from
suspension enabled the Blacks to
return to a back-four (and to
shelve their back-three). Apap
decided to take centre-stage
today. His partner, Yannick
Ossok at times stood and admired
the brilliant youngster repel
one wave after another of Sannat
aerial assaults and to terrorise
the Lions with his attacking
headers on corner-kicks, one of
which was cleared off the line
by the excellent Buttigieg.
Apap's confidence was so high
today that he tried his luck
from the half-way line with a
free-kick and nearly beat Parnis.
But Ossok too had to be at his
best today and he was imperial
in his interventions. Perhaps
cognisant of his panic-prone
supporters, the Cameroonian
even, on the odd occasion,
stooped so low as to boot the
ball high and mighty. These are
details that would have been
lost, however, were it not for
Ossok's astonishing clearance of
a header from white-of-the-eyes
distance with Sammut beaten
early in the second half.
Joseph Buttigieg was the
left-back. The captain was a
picture of concentration. One
sensed that he knew that the
Lions would jump on the
slightest error by the
back-four. And so it would have
been were it not for the
outstanding Sammut. Deep into
injury time, the Blacks' central
defence failed to properly clear
a Sannat cross. The ball bounced
kindly for a Sannat forward who
promptly shot towards goal for
what looked like a sickening
equalizer. But Sammut somehow
managed to pull off a miraculous
save and the ball was cleared
away and the three points
delivered to the Simoncic-Grech
tandem.
The Blacks had Stefan Azzopardi
as their right-back. Even though
he is not a defender by trade,
Azzopardi held his own
remarkably well in this new
position. John Camilleri, his
initial opponent, failed to
exploit Azzopardi's inexperience
in this position or his height
advantage. Sannat then tested
Azzopardi by sending Chris
Camilleri down that channel. The
older Camilleri is a different
proposition and at times
Azzopardi wobbled, as for
example, when Camilleri wired a
shot just wide of Sammut's right
post. Għajnsielem's right-back,
blissfully oblivious of the
devastating powers of this
player, weathered the storm, at
times his calmness brought tears
of despair to the supporters'
eyes, but, aided by his team,
even Kenneth Mercieca for a
while drifted right to support
the besieged team mate,
Azzopardi managed to blunt
Sannat's sharpest instrument.
Franklee Galea patrolled the
area in front of defence with
great confidence and his tackles
brought to an end several
probing manoeuvres by Sannat.
Għajnsielem's decision to play
for the second match running
with five in midfield lifted
some of the load off Galea's
shoulder. The distribution of
duties seemed to be more evenly
shared today than was the case
against Xewkija, when Galea was
run into the ground. This is to
the credit of the rest of the
midfielders. Kalenga, who
dropped into midfield, and
Portelli impressed their
supporters by their effort this
evening considering the injuries
they are carrying. Kalenga's
pursuit of the Lions often took
him inside the Blacks' penalty
area. Such was the commitment to
the cause today. Portelli, on
one or two occasions let down by
his tightness, still managed to
execute a number of glorious
touches including a back-heel
volley shortly before his
second-half substitution.
Portelli looked to have scored
his second goal in as many
matches in the second half when
he blasted a typical Portelli
shot from outside the penalty
area. The ball beat Parnis but
it kept rising and went over not
before scraping the crossbar.
Mercieca played wide left, but
in the second half was seen
roaming further forward and to
the right.
Watching Mercieca play one
almost gets the feeling that
with a little malice this player
would be unstoppable--maybe he
should slip Vincent Cutajar's
picture in one of his socks.
It was Simoncic, however, who
led the Blacks in attempts at
goal, all from set pieces, all
insidious drives, all handled
safely by the excellent Parnis.
Simoncic sat further back today
than he did in the last outing,
and although this took him out
of range as far as open play
finishing was concerned, this
enabled him to launch Kalenga or
Attard almost at will.
The Attard and Kalenga act has
not taken off yet. Both played
with physical problems today. At
one point Kalenga played as lone
man upfront, while Attard was
hid in midfield to help him
recover from a knee that was
acting up. The two, still famous
for their exploits in 03/04, had
two glorious almost identical
opportunities to unleash their
unique goal celebrations
(somersault Kalenga and shirt
waving/badge kissing Attard, for
those too young to know these
things). Attard, clean through,
Parnis and Sannat goal at his
mercy, lifted the ball wide (or
high, or both). Kalenga, moments
later, favoured by a bad
clearance, failed to lift the
ball and the shot was blocked.
Then, as if to show them how
this should be done, Sannat's
central defender Buttigieg put
under pressure by Simoncic's
through pass accidentally lifted
the ball just high enough to
clear the considerable reach of
Parnis, but low enough to creep
under the crossbar of Sannat's
goal. This was a cruel turn of
events, something which members
of the fraternity hate to see
happening to one of their own
members, but the desperate
Blacks had to accept this,
because this seemed to be the
only way they were going to
score today, given their 4-5-1
posture, the profligacy of their
rotating 1 and the score of the
Simoncic-Parnis battle.
