Valletta 5
St Patrick 0
Valletta: S. Sullivan, M. Grima, S. Pace, K. Cassar, K. Bonnici, K. Fenech (D. Zarb), M. Penchev, J. Bondin (S. Grima), B. Forace, C. Camilleri, I. Zammit.
St Patrick: A. Camilleri, C. Micallef (M. Pullicino), A. Buttigieg (K. Bonnici), M. Fleri Soler, M. Tanti, C. Failla, T. Caruana, B. Fenech, S. Brasilino, S. Zerafa (M. Zerafa), C. Dozie.
Referee: R. Buontempo. Asst refs: N. Debattista, I. Miller. 4th official: C. Pisani.
Scorers: A. Camilleri o.g., M. Grima, I. Zammit 2, C. Camilleri
Yellow cards: J. Bondin, C. Micallef,
Red cards: S. Sullivan,
TMI Top 3: 1. M. Penchev, 2. I. Zammit, 3. M. Grima.
Valletta made no mistake in their match against bottom-placed St Patrick despite having to play two thirds of the match with a man less.
In fact, after just 24 minutes, goalie Sean Sullivan was red carded after he upended St Patrick striker Chima Dozie outside the area as the latter was heading towards goal.
Despite that, Valletta remained in command. So much so that they quickly opened the scoring and added another one for good measure which put them in total command. After that the match had no further story as the citizens went on to add to their tally on the changeover.
The victory has enabled Valletta to open a six-point gap over second placed Sliema who, however, have two matches in hand.
Valletta had Mark Galea suspended and Gilbert Agius as well as Jaroslav Marx missing through injury. On their part, St Patrick were missing Gordon Failla, Anizoba Chizoba and Robert Cassar – all suspended.
The citizens started like a house on fire. After just three minutes, they had already gone close through Ian Zammit who lifted his effort from three metres just over. Soon after it was Saints’ goalie Camilleri who denied Bondin turning his shot to corner.
Valletta insisted and on eight minutes Camilleri again was a protagonist as he turned to corner a close range shot from Massimo Grima. Penchev also had a shot cleared from over the line by Tanti.
Somehow, St Patrick withstood the onslaught and on 14 minutes, Camilleri again had to extend himself to save a Forace header.
On the 24th minute, Valletta ended in 10 men when Sean Sullivan upended Chima Dozie outside the area. Coach JJ Aquilina had to sacrifice Karl Bonnici as Miguel Montfort took Sullivan’s place as City custodian.
On 26 minutes, Valletta opened the scoring. Massimo Grima took an angled freekick which competely deceived Camilleri who could only turn the ball into his own net.
On 34 minutes, it was 2-0 when Valletta were awarded a penalty after Ian Zammit was floored in the area by Arnold Buttigieg. From the spotkick, Massimo Grima hit home to the delight of the fans.
There were no further actions till the end of the first half, but on 55 minutes, Zammit scored the third goal after a good pass from Massimo Grima.
Five minutes later, the same Ian Zammit scored a gem of a goal – the best of the bunch – with a lobbed shot from the angle of the area as Camilleri was out of position.
The Saints goalie was completely at fault in Valletta’s fifth goal on 35 minutes as he fumbled the ball off a Chris Camilleri low shot which had appeared harmless.
Four minutes from the end, the young Dylan Zarb showed some of his undoubted skills as he combined perfectly with Grima only to see his effort blocked by Camilleri.
Before full time, Montfort was finally called into action saving a header from Dozie.