St George’s 2

Pieta H 2

St George’s lost their 100 per cent record when they were held by ten-man Pieta in a spectacular 2-2 match yesterday.

Pieta were simply the better team yesterday and could have even won the three points at stake with some luck.

St George’s sat on their laurels after taking an early two-goal advantage, but Pieta did not throw in the towel and managed to obtain the equaliser with two second half goals scored in a four minute spell.

On the hour Pieta had Sheldon Grech dismissed, but the league leaders did not manage to take advantage from their numerical superiority and had to settle for a draw.

Pieta had a promising start with the Saints’ goalkeeper immediately called in action to save dangerous shots from Refalo and Jurgen Pisani.

But on 13 minutes St George’s took the lead with some Brazilian magic from Jonathan Ruiz who beat Miguel Montfort with a brilliantly executed freekick. With Pieta still trying to recover, the Saints doubled the score six minutes later when Glenn Bonello won a tackle with Bernard Sciberras beat another defender to hammer home from a difficult angle.

Pieta went close pulling one back through Jurgen Pisani whose missile was well saved by Galea. On 25 minutes a Dominic Mifsud’s shot on the turn went slightly over the bar and a Sheldon Grech freekick was again blocked by Galea.

The Saints goalkeeper was kept under constant pressure in the last minutes of the first half. Ryan Mifsud had a shot going inches wide and Jurgen Pisani was blocked in time following a melee in front of Galea.

Substitute Grech had a fine run on the right but his dangerous cross found no one ready with the Saints’ defence completely off guard. In stoppage time Thomas Galea saved again this time a off a Quelin Refalo grounder.

On the resumption the Saints appeared to be more solid and in good control of the match, but the unexpected happened in the space of four minutes. On 54 minutes Zack Muscat was brought down by goalkeeper Galea and the referee awarded the penalty from which Refalo made no mistake. Four minutes later the same Refalo obtained the equalizer when he back heeled in the low corner of the net, with goalkeeper Galea misjudging the ball.

On the hour Pieta were reduced to ten players when Sheldon Grech was shown a straight red for dissent.

In the remaining minutes Pieta still had the edge over their opponents, but neither side managed to score a winner.

St. George’s – T. Galea, A. Bonello (R. Sell), D. Zahra, E. Sevasta, L. Stivala, G. Inguanez, E. Amaira, B. Fenech, D. Zarb, J.L. Ruiz, G. Bonello.

Pieta H – M. Montfort, R. Mifsud, B. Sciberras, Q. Refalo, S. Grech, S. Lijeskic, Z. Muscat, C. Cassar (C. Grech), J. Pisani, D. Mifsud (R.L. Bandeira), C. Spiteri (D. Caruana).

Referee – Malcolm Spiteri

Late Julian Galea goal rewards Melita

Dingli S 0

Melita 1

A late goal scored by Julian Galea was enough for Melita to chalk their second win of the season and move to third in the table with six points.

For Dingli Swallows this was another setback, the third defeat in four matches so far this season. For the ex-Premier side the future is rather uncertain and they need to improve considerably in the coming matches, if they wish to avoid another embaraasing relegation this time to Division Two.

Chirino disappointed in attack and the absence of Chris Ciappara is being sorely felt.

The match was evenly bal anced in the first part with Dingli showing the better ideas but with Melita growing in confidence as time elapsed. A Chris Azzopardi cross shot was misjudged by the Melita goalkeeper but Alinho cleared away the danger, and on 23 minutes a Chirino overhead kick went slightly over the bar.

Near the end of the first half Rodrick Spiteri miskicked the ball from an ideal position following a Clayton Caruana freekick. Just before the end Melita missed a sitter when Matthew Borg failed to score with only Jeffrey Farrugia to beat following a good pass by Vella Petroni.

On the resumption Dingli went close again with a deflected Clayton Caruana shot. On the hour Julian Galea tested Galea with a grounder, and minutes later the same player missed an easy chance in front of goal when he shot straight in Galea’s arms.

On 90 minutes Melita scored the winner when Julian Galea made amends for his previous miss when he scored from an acute angle. In stoppage time Melita went very close a second goal when Julian Galea went free on the right and crossed towards Nigel Rizzo whose point blank shot was somehow saved by Farrugia.

Dingli S - J. Farrugia; R. Sammut, S. Tellus, R. Spiteri (K. Asciak), R. Vella (K. Pace), K. Formosa, E. Farrugia, C. Caruana (K. Bonavia), R. Briffa, C. Azzopardi, J. Chirino

Melita - K. Zahra; R. Alinho, G. Gribbon, A. Caruana Scicluna, Matthew Borg, J. Galea, J. Mifsud (L. Micallef), L. Fenech (N. Rizzo), K. Vella Petroni, S. Galea (K. Micallef), M. Batel

Referee - Paul Apap