Surprise leaders Msida St Joseph maintained their impressive and perfect start in this year’s Premier League as they easily overcame bottom club Pieta Hotspurs 3-0 to register their third consecutive win.
The weekend also saw Hibernians, Birkirkara and Marsaxlokk registering good wins over Marsa, St George’s and Valletta respectively to remain close to the leaders, while ‘Old Firm’ rivals Sliema and Floriana shared a point apiece in a 1-1 draw.
Msida took quite some time to settle down against an aggressive Pieta side, but in the latter part of the first half, they woke up to their responsibilities and scored three times to make sure of the points.
The Saints had Babatunde in great form. He scored two of the goals and was always a menace to the Pieta defence which has now conceded 13 goals in just three matches.
The Hotspurs might not have had a worse start than that of this season since they were promoted to the Premier. They will certainly have to show a vast improvement if they are not to be called the whipping boys this season.
The Monday match between Marsaxlokk and Valletta was, in my opinion, the best of the lot. It had everything. Three goals, some good saves, some flowing and fast football, four/five shots hitting the posts and a red card.
Valletta seemed to be cruising home safely until they had Branko Nisevic dismissed on 76 minutes. He had been a pillar in the heart of the City defence and was the best player on the field of play. However, he contrived to be shown a second yellow card and was rightly sent off by the official.
His absence was sorely felt as Marsaxlokk quickly took advantage of the situation, scoring an immediate equaliser and then grabbing all the points thanks to an injury time goal from Daniel Bogdanovic, who was proclaimed their hero after he had been almost inexistent in the first half.
The southern seasiders had a rather poor first half when Valletta created much more, but they came back strongly on the changeover even if they had to wait till Valletta were reduced to ten men to convert their ascendancy into goals.
The citizens, perhaps, did not deserve to lose all the three points. Argentine striker Monesterolo was on target again and was unlucky not to have added more goals, especially in the first half, when he also hit the crossbar.
On Sunday, Floriana and Sliema shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw. Yet, it was the goalkeepers who stole the limelight in this entertaining match, in which Floriana opened aggressively only for Sliema to come back strongly.
The Greens confirmed that they are a force to be reckoned with this season. After three matches, it is evident that no comparison can be made with last year’s outfit which just avoided relegation in their final match against Mosta.
On their part, Sliema continue to struggle even if they showed some improvement over the first two matches. Losing another two points was not on their plans, however. In fact, after just three matches, they are five points adrift of the leaders.
They will certainly have to roll up their sleeves and start to deliver the goods if they wish to move up the standings and remain in a challenging position although, admittedly, we are still a distant 25 matches away from the end of the competition.
The champions, Birkirkara, made it a point to forget about their 5-1 drubbing by Msida in the previous match as they scored four times in the first half against St George’s.
The Stripes were still without a host of regular players. It is only when players like Etienne Barbara, Roderick Briffa, Antoine Zahra, Michael Galea and Adrian Ciantar are back in the side that they have to be assessed, although their inclusion should make the Stripes much stronger.
This match showed and confirmed the big gap that exists between the champions (heavily depleted) and the Premier newcomers.
The Saints, in fact, had no reply to the Stripes and were always facing an uphill task after Mifsud Triganza opened the scoring early.
Hibernians also did well in beating other Premier newcomers Marsa 3-1 even if they left it a little late to score two goals which forced the Red Blues to surrender.
The Paolites welcomed back Andrew Cohen among their ranks. When he is fully fit, he is bound to increase the Paolites’ potential – they will not have to take so long to ascertain themselves of the points against opponents of the calibre of Marsa.
The Red Blues did what was expected of them. They fought hard and resisted until about 18 minutes from the end. They gave as much as they got, but then, they suffered two quick goals which sounded their death knell.
It was only their inexperience that let them down. In future, however, they might be expected to fare better and also give the top clubs a good run for their money.
Player of the week
Ibrahim Babatunde (Msida SJ)
Msida’s Nigerian striker is my pick this week after yet another excellent performance, this time against Pieta Hotspurs.
Even though facing the bottom-placed club, Babatunde showed all his skills, especially in the first half during which he also scored two of his side’s three goals.
There is no doubt that Babatunde is one of the best foreigners who have graced the Maltese Premier League in recent years. And it is also a fact that his performances and goals have helped Msida to the top place of Malta’s elite football competition, at least so far this season.
The scorers
VALLETTA (8): S. Monesterolo 7, G. Agius
FLORIANA (7): C. Caruana 2, M. Micallef 2, W. Gomes, A. Mifsud, C. Cassar
SLIEMA (3): I. Woods 3
BIRKIRKARA (6): J.P. Mifsud Triganza 2, A. Paradiso, M. Calascione, L. Galea, MA Bonnici
MSIDA SJ (9): D. Nwoke 3, O. Zongo, I. Babatunde 3, P. Fenech, R. Baldacchino
HIBERNIANS (6): P. C. Doffo 2, T. Caruana, U. Nwoko, T. Scerri, N. Chukunyere
MARSAXLOKK (7): A. Schembri 2, D. Bogdanovic 2, H. Doda, C. Mamo, K. Sammut
MARSA (1): A. Ewurun
Next matches
(all at Ta’ Qali)
Friday 15 September
7pm Hibernians-Birkirkara
Saturday 16 September
4pm Sliema W.-Marsa
6pm Marsaxlokk-Floriana
Sunday 10 September
4pm St George’s-Pieta H.
6pm Msida SJ-Valletta