St Patrick 2
Lija 0
St Patrick: Azzopardi, Pullicino, Cassar, Fleri Soler, Failla (Gauci), Caruana, G. Failla, Fenech, Costa Brazilino, Chizoba Anizoba, Zerafa (Dozie)
Lija A: Agius, Okeke, Gatt, Cosaitis, Lanzon, Zammit (Ellul), Camenzuli, Barry, Spasov (Agius), Camilleri, Gatt (Azzopardi)
Referee: A. Azzopardi Asst. Refs: J. Camilleri, J. Rapa 4th Official: R. Buontempo
Scorers: Caruana , Anizoba.
Yellow cards: Costa Brazilino, Zammit
TMI top three:1. T. Caruana 2. Chizoba Anizoba 3. Costa Brazilino
Two goals in the space of a minute were enough for St Patrick to overcome the rather dispirited challenge of Lija Athletic and claim their first win of the season.
The Saints found the net through Caruana and Anizoba ten minutes into the second half in an encounter that rarely rose above the mediocre.
The first encounter at a windswept Victor Tedesco Stadium featured in form Lija Athletics against the almost certainly doomed St Patrick. Both teams were at full strength with Lija hoping for another good performance to secure the three points whilst the Zabbar boys were obviously hoping to make some noise themselves.
The opening minutes saw both sides attempting to gain the upper hand with St Patrick appearing rather livelier. Costa Brazilino was making some fine runs on the right but the Saints could not somehow find the net.
On six minutes, an Anizoba cross found Clayton Failla with the latter heading just wide as St Patrick continued to assert themselves.
St Patrick came close again on 14 minutes when another treacherous Anizoba cross found Caruana whose header glanced off the upright with Clayton Failla unable to finish off the move. The Saints were playing fine football using both flanks intelligently as Lija preferred to operate on the defensive hoping for a lucky break. On 30 minutes, a cross by Zerafa caused panic in the Lija area with Okeke almost committing an own goal but somehow the Reds managed to clear the danger.
The rest of the half contained nothing of note as the encounter went down a gear with no team courageous enough to take the initiative.
St Patrick’s took a merited lead on 48 minutes when Clayton Failla’s probing cross found Thomas Caruana who saw his first shot saved by Agius but his second attempt blasted into the net.
It was no less than the Saints deserved, as they were the team that had consistently been on the attack. Clayton Failla had a glorious chance to double for the Saints on 54 minutes but Agius blocked his stinging shot again. However the second goal came just seconds later when a Caruana cross was fumbled by Agius and Anizoba blasted home for St. Patrick.
The Saints were now home and dry with Lija appearing dejected and lacking in ideas for a fightback.
A bust up on 71 minutes with Clayton Failla ending up floored in the box did not attract the attention of the officials as the game threatened to turn nasty. Matthew Agius almost managed to reduce the arrears on 75 minutes when his cross shot swerved with the wind but Azzopardi was alert to the danger to parry away.
After that there was nothing much to say as St Patrick were in complete control to wind down the clock with Lija offering only token resistance and the Saints claiming their first win of the season.