MSIDA SJ 1

VALLETTA 1

Msida SJ: M. Bartolo, P. Sciriha, S. Grima, T. Farrugia, C.Farrugia, G. Ogbonna, D. Cachia, A. Farrugia (G. Magri), P. Doding, L. Mizzi (R. Baldacchino), O. Yacine (G. Camilleri)

Valletta: S. Darmanin, J. Bondin, J. Mifsud, R. Forace, I. Zammit, D. Falzon (D. Camilleri), G. Agius, M. Grima (K. Scicluna), C. Mattocks, H. Backhaus, S. Monesterolo (K. Magro)

Referee: C. Pisani Asst.refs: A. Camilleri, G. Barbara 4th official: A. Azzopardi

Scorers: C. Mattocks, G. Magri

Yellow cards: S. Grima, P. Doding, J. Bondin

Player of the match: Gilbert Agius (Valletta)

TMI top three: 1.G. Agius 2. G. Ogbonna 3. P. Doding

For the second time in less than a week, Valletta were caught cold by their opponents in added time, thus failing to add to their only win so far this season.

After succumbing to a late equaliser by Hibernians last Monday, yesterday, they were again denied a win by Msida SJ, conceding a late goal from substitute Glenn Magri after having taken a first half lead through Claude Mattocks.

In spells Valletta betrayed the gloom of a side promising to produce some exciting football, but which has fallen short of expectations so far. They did most of the running but lacked a decent finish, with Monesterolo looking rusty and far from the lethal predator he was last season.

Msida kept up their positive run of late, although yesterday they looked doomed to defeat, only to be given a lifeline in added time. Their draw was some just reward for their second half efforts, mostly inspired by their foreigner Prso Doding.

Valletta made some changes to their starting line-up. Bondin started in defence instead of Scicluna, who however went in as substitute after 37 minutes for Grima, who was forced to leave the pitch with a cut on his forehead. The return of Ian Zammit after suspension meant that David Camilleri was again left on the bench. Valletta also had the injured Giglio absent.

Msida’s only change, following their win against Pieta, was Mizzi’s inclusion in the starting line-up as Baldacchino was relegated to the bench and made his appearance as a second half substitute.

The goal apart, scoring opportunities were at a premium in a dull first half, bereft of any excitement.

Valletta’s brighter start might have given them an early lead but Zammit first failed to connect on Agius’ cross and then shot another Agius pass wide.

It took Valletta more than half an hour to fashion another offensive move. Zammit, connecting on Falzon’s cross, ran through on the right but his shot was blocked by keeper Bartolo.

Msida, coming up with their routine pot shot, did little to embarrass the Valletta rearguard and with both sides running out of ideas, Valletta finally took the lead three minutes before halftime, as Claude Mattocks headed in Agius’ corner kick from the right after some slack defending by Msida.

In the half’s added time, Monesterolo had a let-off, when failing to connect on Falzon’s cross. On the other end, Yacine fluffed a chance for Msida, shooting wide in front of goal on Mizzi’s testing cross.

Unfortunately, the pattern of the game did not change much after the restart as the quality of football did not improve.

Valletta kept trying but Msida fought gamely with Doding looking the most dangerous with some good footwork. Msida’s claims for a penalty when Doding stumbled over Mifsud’s feet were ignored by the referee. Earlier, Valletta had gone close with an Agius free-kick sailing across the Msida goal for Backhaus to send a low cross which Monesterolo missed and Grima cleared.

On 77 minutes, Darmanin blocked Doding’s close header on Adrian Farrugia’s free-kick and Forace had to block another Doding shot soon after.

With less than ten minutes remaining, Doding cleared Camilleri on the left, but the substitute shot wide.

Valletta had to survive another Msida scare when Tyron Farrugia headed Cachia’s sailing free-kick just over the bar with Darmanin out of sorts. Hanging to a slim lead, Valletta looked far from comfortable as Msida increased their efforts and in a last desperate attack, with the match already in added time, substitute Glenn Magri rifled a low shot past the helpless Darmanin to earn an unexpected draw and send the Msida supporters in raptures.

Snooker

Tony Drago just fails to qualify for Royal London Watches GP finals

Malta’s Tony Drago just failed to reach the finals of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix in Aberdeen this week.

In the qualifying Stage 2 of the tournament at Pontin’s, he finished third in Group B, but it was not enough to see him through to the last 32.

Tom Ford and Jimmy Michie finished first and second to qualify from the Group of seven players, which also included James McBain, Andrew Higginson, Michael White, Jimmy Wattana and Gareth Coppack.

Even the higher ranked Wattana failed to make it to the finals. He finished sixth in the group, just avoiding bottom place, after concluding his commitments with a 4-2 defeat against Drago.

The Maltese star won four of his seven qualifying matches. He started with a 4-1 win over James McBain, but followed that with a 1-4 defeat against Coppack and a 2-4 loss to Michael White. But then he beat Michie 4-1 and Andrew Higginson 4-3, before losing an important match against Ford 4-1. In his final match, Drago beat Wattana 4-2.

Despite his elimination, Drago had some good moments in this tournament – he also had two very good century breaks of 128 against Michie and 108 against McBain.

Also through from the first four groups were Mark Davis and Mark Joyce from Group A, Joe Delaney and Ben Woollaston from Group C and Stuart Pettman and Liu Song from Group D.

The other groups are still under way.