Dingli S.-Qormi 1-4

HENRY BRINCAT

Qormi consolidated their top position yesterday when, as widely expected, they beat bottom placed Dingli Swallows easily to open a five-point lead over Valletta who, however, have today's match against Hamrun in hand.

It was a merited win for the league leaders who dominated for long stretches. However, it was only after Dingli had scored from a penalty that the Yellow Blacks assured themselves of their win with another two goals which put the match beyond Dingli's reach.

Qormi took the field without Joseph Chetcuti and Kenneth Spiteri, both kept on the bench, while Dingli had Okonkwo on the bench (he came on as a substitute in the second half) and Rocha da Silva was still missing. Roderick Spiteri was ruled out through suspension.

In the first half, Qormi were a superior side. But despite enjoying the lion's share of the attacking, they could only score once. In fact, Massimo Grima's strike on 20 minutes separated the two teams at that stage.

Dingli concentrated mainly on defence leaving Haruna Doda isolated up front. Whenever they tried to launch an attack they always found Wellman and Dos Santos commanding the Qormi middle approaches. In fact, they never troubled goalie Farrugia throughout the opening 45 minutes.

In the second half, Qormi continued to dictate matters, but after taking a 2-0 lead, Dingli came back into contention following a penalty goal from substitute Okonkwo. But two more goals in the final 15 minutes put paid to any hopes Dingli might have had of saving the game.

The initial stages were equally balanced but Qormi appeared more dangerous. In the 11th minute, it was Jonathan Bondin who missed contact with the ball in front of goal off an Effiong cross.

Qormi were unlucky not to open the scoring on 20 minutes when Effiong advanced on a through pass. His effort beat the onrushing Jeffrey Farrugia but the ball hit the upright and rebounded out to be cleared by the Dingli defence.

Six minutes later, Qormi appealed in vain for a penalty when Effiong bustled his way into the area and finished on the ground when harassed by Conceicao.

A minute later, Qormi, however, took the lead. From a Joe Farrugia corner, the Dingli defence failed to clear and Massimo Grima was on hand to plant the ball into the net.

Six minutes after the restart Qormi added a second goal. Brazilian striker Camilo Da Silva scored a beauty of a goal turning into the net a cross from Ryan Deguara.

Qormi now started playing with more confidence and on 61 minutes it was almost 3-0. From a Farrugia freekick, Da Silva had his shot cleared from over the goalline by Conceicao.

Dingli had not yet produced a single decent effort, but finally, on the 64th minute, a Clint Caruana shot from the distance went over.

On 68 minutes, Dingli pulled one back when Doda was floored by Jonathan Bondin. From the spotkick, substitute Joseph Okonkwo made no mistake.

Two minutes later, from a Farrugia low cross, Okonkwo's hard shot was somewhat luckily blocked by a Qormi defender.

Dingli's hopes of saving the match were dashed on the 75th minute as Qormi scored again. This time it was Da Silva who turned into a provider, setting Effiong with a fine through pass. The Nigerian had no difficulty in hitting home past Farrugia.

Duda went close to scoring another for Dingli on 77 minutes, as his fine effort just missed the target.

In the 89th minute, Da Silva was on target again. He received a perfect pass from Massimo Grima, controlled the ball and beat Farrugia at his second attempt.

At the final whistle Qormi deserved the round of applause from their numerous fans.

Dingli: J. Farrugia, C. Caruana, R. Garcia Conceicao, H. Doda, S. Tellus, K. Formosa, V. Fiteni, C. Muscat (E. Farrugia), J. Agius (J. Okonkwo), K. Borg (D. Zarb), M. Borg.

Qormi: M. Farrugia, L. Dos Santos, R. Sammut, J. Bondin, S. Wellman, J. Farrugia, K. Fenech (J. Stanyer), M. Grima, R. Deguara (K. Spiteri), A. Effiong, C. Da Silva (G. Buttigieg).

Referee: A. Azzopardi Asst refs: T. Farrugia Cann, J. Camilleri 4th official: A. Casha.

Scorers: M. Grima, C. Da Silva 2, J. Okonkwo (pen.), Effiong,

Yellow cards: K. Fenech, J. Bondin.

Player of the match: A. Effiong (Qormi)

TMI top three: 1. Massimo Grima, 2. S. Wellman, 3. A. Effiong.