MATCH REPORT
(click
here for as it happened)
For
the second consecutive match,
Għajnsielem F.C. took the field
of play with the knowledge that
their prey, the Sannat Lions,
had dropped points, in both
cases drawn matches, and for the
second match in a row they took
full advantage of the slip by
the leaders by winning their own
match. This afternoon, Sannat
fought back from a two-goal
deficit but had to settle for a
point against Victoria Hotspurs.
Għajnsielem took the initiative
right from the start against St.
Laurence Spurs. They scored an
early goal through their
mid-season acquisition Thiago
dos Santos, and then controlled
proceedings while nursing this
slender lead to the final
moments of the match. Then dos
Santos scored his second of the
afternoon to make sure that the
Blacks would finish the second
round one point behind the
leaders Sannat in second place.
The
Blacks made their second move
during this January's transfer
window when they signed striker
Mark Camilleri from Xewkija
Tigers. Dominic Grech and Alex
Simoncic opted not to change a
winning side when they fielded
the same starting XI from the
victory over Victoria Hotspurs.
This meant that Camilleri would
start on the bench. But the big,
experienced striker did not have
to wait long to make his debut
for his new club. Alex Simoncic
aggravated a slight hamstring
pull and limped off in the 25th
minute. Camilleri took the
position of centre forward and
Ferdinando Apap dropped into
midfield, wide on the right.
Simoncic, who rarely fails to
leave his mark on any match he
participates in, did not
disappoint even in this short
cameo. He was the one who
crossed the ball from the left
in the 15th minute. Ferdinando
Apap challenged for the ball,
which broke towards dos Santos
who promptly deposited it behind
Samuel Micallef. The Blacks
nearly doubled their lead a
minute later when they attacked
in numbers, but the move failed
to produce a goal. Gradually St.
Laurence started to gain some
traction and the Blacks' defence
was put on alert with a number
of probing balls inside the
penalty area. The Blacks,
perhaps alarmed by the Spurs'
liveliness, adopted a cautious
stance, preferring to launch
deep balls to their front pair,
but declining from supporting
them in numbers. The Blacks'
lead nearly vanished when a
Spurs forward intercepted a poor
clearance and with a gaping goal
to aim at, the forward managed
to miss the net.
Jason Portelli, who plays off
Simoncic when the two of them
are in the same midfield,
asserts himself with greater
authority in Simoncic's absence.
Portelli combines nicely with
Franklee Galea in midfield, and
between them the two bring into
play all the qualities that must
be present for a team to control
that department. Although Galea
often leaves the playmaking to
others, he occasionally spots an
opening and goes for it. This is
what happened five minutes
before half-time. Galea dribbled
his way into a promising
position down the left. With the
Spurs' defence static, he
gobbled up more ground inside
the penalty area and advanced to
a position from where he could
inflict serious damage on the
Spurs. With his direct passage
to goal finally blocked, he
spotted both his strikers at an
angle high in the penalty area.
So he played a perfect ball at
45 degree angle towards
Camilleri. The newcomer,
cleverly let the ball go for dos
Santos who was in a slightly
better position. Samuel Micallef
was at his mercy. Dos Santos
slammed a first time shot aimed
at the roof of the net. The
problem was that the ball kept
rising and cleared the Spurs'
crossbar. In hindsight, dos
Santos should have controlled
the ball and placed it wide of
Micallef.
The
first half ended without further
incident. Apart from the
disappointment of the dos Santos
miss, the only concern was the
Blacks' failure to switch play
towards Apap, who was being left
alone too often on the right.
With Camilleri and dos Santos
eagerly awaiting inside the
Spurs' penalty area, the
situation cried for some old
fashioned wing play and balls
across the penalty area.
The
match settled into a quiet
rhythm after the restart. The
Blacks sought to keep possession
as long as possible. St.
Laurence, for whom ex-Blacks
Glenn Cefai and Charles Mercieca
were having a good game in
defence, tried to penetrate down
their right flank through the
elusive Rodrigues. Yannick Ossok
was excellent in doubling up
whenever the Spurs made it all
the way up to the Blacks'
penalty area. Although the Spurs
looked like they could nick a
goal, as soon as you saw Ossok
fix every situation that
developed in front, to the right
or to the left of him, you
tended to breathe easier. The
tenacity shown by Robert Grima,
David Debattista and the captain
himself, Joseph Buttigieg, was
also reassuring. This meant that
Joseph Grech had nothing to do
except to gather errant crosses
that came his way and punt goal
kicks upfield.
In
midfield, Kenneth Mercieca put
in a good shift. His problem was
the complete opposite of the one
that Apap had. While Apap was
almost killed with boredom,
Mercieca was driven to
exhaustion with work. The Spurs
loved to attack down the Blacks
left, Mercieca's channel. The
Blacks launched most of their
counter breaks up their left
channel. Mercieca erred in
overdoing the dribbling at
times. But he made up for it by
fighting back and winning the
ball. He was involved in some
beautiful moves that should have
been rewarded with a goal. These
build ups invariably also
involved the cultured feet of
Portelli and the unselfish
Camilleri, who on one occasion
tried to set-up Apap, when he
might have taken the shot
himself.
Dos
Santos should have scored on two
occasions. In the 59th minute he
struck the post with a hard, low
diagonal drive following a neat
dribble inside the penalty area.
Then in the 71st minute he
blasted a shot high when he was
sent clean through. In the 87th
minute he made us all forgive
him when he crowned a brilliant
Portelli cross that was headed
back across goal by Apap. The
perfectly placed dos Santos
hammered the ball past Micallef
with venom.
Stefan Azzopardi and Charlon
Tabone came on for Apap and
Buttigieg and the Blacks saw off
the final moments without
running any further risks. Ossok
left the match with a heavily
bandaged head following a
horrific clash with Christopher
Cauchi, who unfortunately was
stretchered off. Dos Santos left
the match with a swollen shin
following a late tackle. But
none of these seemed to matter
as the Blacks marched off the
field with the three points
against these insidious
opponents, a team that they will
face next following the usual
reshuffle that takes place in
Gozo at the start of the third
and final round of league play.
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