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The Red-Whites succumbed to their first league defeat when narrowly
loosing to the section leaders, San Ġwann. In the past few years,
Lija have always had a very hard time with this organised and
disciplined team and unfortunately, the Reds have always ended up on
the loosing end. The Athletic had a smashing start into the match.
After only one minute, Lija created a good chance when from a
complicated free-kick the ball went just wide. San Ġwann upped
their performance and surged forward regularly now. The Yellows had
quite a few shots on goal in the first half, with the best scoring
opportunities coming in the 25th and 30th minutes. In the 25th
minute, a menacing volley flew right across the Lija goal-post, and
following an aerial challenge the ball was finally punched away by
Kevin Ellul, the Lija goal-keeper. Five minutes later, the Saints
came close again. Following a distant volley from the left flank,
the ball was seen bouncing off the cross-bar and it completely took the Lija custodian by surprise. Although San Ġwann held the
upperhand, the Lija defence ably administered by Andrč Scicluna, controlled its furious opponents
excellently. Most play was centered in the middle of the field and
both sets of defences cancelled the respective attacking prowess. Some minutes before the
break the Lija Athletic instructor, Sandro Gatt, performed a tactical change
when he substituted Mark Cremona and Karl Saliba on the flanks.
[
Half-time: 0-0
]
The second half seemed to have two episodes. During its first
instances, the striped Red-Whites looked better than their adversaries, however
during the final twenty minutes the Saints gave all their hearts
out and managed to escape with yet another narrow victory over
luckless Lija. In the 52nd minute, Mark Cremona managed to break
free from his markers, nevertheless his shot on target was deviated
into a corner by a yellow-shirted defender. A minute later, Ivan
Scicluna just unmanaged to connect with his head to a well-executed corner-kick in
front of goal. Had Scicluna been luckier, it would have been an exceptional header that would
have seen the Athletic taking an unexpected lead. On 59 minutes, Lija were dangerous again. Mark Cremona ran all the way towards goal
after making his way through the Saints' rearguard and beat the
offside trap, but the San Ġwann
goalie, Matthew Sciberras intercepted before Cremona could calibrate
his shot in a one to one situation. In the 71st minute, Lija
Athletic were reduced to ten men when Christian Agius was shown the
red card following a second bookable offence. This expulsion was
perhaps the turning point of the match. Barely two minutes after
this incident San Ġwann fired an insidious shot that sailed all
the way in front of the Lija post, with Armand Chetcuti missing a
sitter after failing to connect for a simple tap-in to this
delightful cross. Four minutes later, the Saints were dangerous once
again when from a good corner, Clayton Giordamaina's shot went
slightly off target, with the Lija keeper beaten
after being caught off his place. San Ġwann were now besieging
the Lija rearguard and their efforts on goal were seen coming from
all directions. Ten minutes from time, Lija's Kevin Ellul was the
protagonist in an action where he pulled off a magnificent save
following a menacing shot destined to hit the back of the net. This
was the prelude to San Ġwann's goal as three minutes later, the
Lija fort gave in and Armand Chetcuti managed to hit home the
all-important goal for the Yellows, and give his team the points. In
a very crowded penalty area, Chetcuti managed to find some space
after receiving a good cross from the left and he had enough time to
calibrate a fine lob over the now helpless Lija Athletic
goal-keeper. This dealt a severe blow to the Reds' aspirations of
achieving at least a point against the leaders, but it was not over
yet. Five minutes from time, San Ġwann's substitute Juan
Sciberras was sent-off after a reckless late tackle on Lija's Ivan
Scicluna. With both teams reduced to ten men, Lija started to
believe that perhaps snatching a late equaliser was not that
unlikely. In fact the Reds surged forward in a desperate attempt to
save the result, but it was the Saints who almost doubled their lead
with a minute left from regular time, when their captain, Anthony
Portelli fired high with only the Lija goalie to beat. All in all
San Ġwann demonstrated superior technical qualities throughout
the match, and it seemed that the Athletic were not up for the
challenge today. Although still somewhat early to say, both Lija and
San Ġwann could be the prime candidates that will fight it out
for promotion to Youth League Section A.
[
Full-time: 0-1
]
Lija Athletic player of the
Match: Andrč
Scicluna.
<<
Team Formation
>>
<< Kevin Ellul
--
Josef Laferla
--
Hubert Friggieri --
Daniel Cremona --
Steve Ferriggi --
Mark Cremona (Martin
Grech)
--
Karl Saliba (Ivan
Scicluna)
--
Keith Farrugia (Daniel
Gauci)
--
Andrč Scicluna --
Christian Agius --
Bryan Deguara
>>
Report by
Samuel M. Cutajar
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