Vittoriosa S 1
Dingli S 3
Dingli Swallows finished a very promising season in style, beating Vittoriosa in a one sided final. Dingli scored an early goal and never looked back to claim an important honour, in maybe the best season in their history.
Coming from the second division, Dingli shrugged their early difficulties in the season, to play some very good stuff along the way and finish amongst the best teams in this division.
The victory yesterday opens up new horizons for this team as they can surely challenge for a Premier berth next season.. Dingli were the better team in all departments, with a solid defence guided by goalkeeper Farrugia, a hard working midfield and a fast and agile attack with veteran Mark Galea scoring a brace that sent the Trophy to the small village of Dingli..
Dingli had a flying start forging ahead after barely 30 seconds play. Ciappara passed to Mark Galea who dribbled his way inside the Vittoriosa penalty area to beat Ivan Cassar with a low shot that went in the far corner of the net.
This goal galvanised the Swallows who were without Jeremy Agius. Dingli were all over the field in the opening minutes as Vittoriosa still rattled by this setback had great difficulty in coming to grips with their opponents’ superiority.
However, slowly but surely Vittoriosa crawled back into the game and Eviparker tested Farrugia with a weak shot from just inside the area, and the same player shot slightly wide after a good move by Keith Darmanin.
On 20 minutes Dingli went close again when Anywanna passed to Etienne Farrugia who tested Cassar from an acute angle. Seven minutes later Vittoriosa had their best chance when from a Cedric Sciberras cross, the completely unmarked Keith Darmanin headed towards goal, but the Dingli goalkeeper brought the house down with a brilliant save.
On the half hour Dingli were rather unlucky when Mark Galea beat a couple of defenders before lobbing over Cassar with the ball hitting the crossbar and from the rebound Anywanna chose the most difficult task when he failed to score with an open goal at his mercy. Minutes later Dingli were dealt a sever blow when the same Anywanna limped off injured.
The second half started with a Rodrick Spiteri scorcher that was saved by Cassar, and on the other end a Keith Darmanin freekick was well saved by Farrugia. Vittoriosa pushed everything forward in the opening minutes but were dealt a severe blow on 64 minutes when in a swift counter break Dingli doubled the score. Chris Ciappara did all the running before passing to Etienne Farrugia who returned the ball to Ciappara who beat Cassar from close range.
Minutes later Cassar had to rush out of position to block Mark Galea. But on 75 minutes Cassar could do nothing to stop Mark Galea who beat him on the run before planting the ball home. Just before the final whistle Vittoriosa captain Robert Adami scored a consolation goal with a dipper from the edge of the area.
After the match MFA Vice-President Ludovico Micallef presented Dingli captain Edwin Casha with the KO Trophy.