Football - Bank Of Valletta First Division - Classy Saints demolish sorry Msida SJ

Malta Independent Sunday, 23 January 2011, 00:00 Last update: about 14 years ago

St Andrews 5

Msida SJ 0

St Andrews produced a five-star performance yesterday to demolish a sorry Msida side 5-0. The score could have been even bigger had the Saints been more precise in front of goal.

The victory puts St Andrews in a healthy position in the middle of the table with Msida almost doomed to another relegation, this time to the second division.

The match was a one-way traffic affair with the Saints dominating from the very first minute, and displaying some fast flowing football. Patrick Briscoe White and Matteo Desira Buttigieg stood out with Michael Valenzia and Kurt Coleiro also having a very good match.

The Saints went straight in attack and Kurt Coleiro missed some good chances in the first minutes and also had a goal disallowed for an offside position. But on 17 minutes the Saints took a deserved lead when Kurt Cleiro fired home a Michael Valenzia freekick.

The Saints continued to attack and they doubled the score on 23 minutes when Matteo Desira Buttigieg passed towards the unmarked Patrick Briscoe White whose precise lob gave Jeremy Alden no chance to save.

Three minutes later St Andrews made it three. Kurt Galea did all the running on the right flank and crossed towards Anakua who missed a sitter in front of goal, but luckily for him he was served again by Patrick Briscoe White, and this time Faisal Anakua made no mistake.

The Saints reduced some of the pressure after scoring the third goal and Msida went out of their defensive shell even going near with shots from D’Amato and Alinho, well saved by the St Andrews goalkeeper.

On the resumption Msida tried to be more aggressive but their hopes were completely dashed when they suffered a fourth goal. It was a blatant mistake by goalkeeper Jeremy Alden whose clearance hit defender Adrian Farrugia and for Matteo Desira Buttigieg it was a rather easy task planting the ball in an empty net.

On 73 minutes St Andrews scored their fifth and final goal when Patrick Briscoe White passed towards Matteo Desira Buttigieg who lobbed beautifully past a helpless Alden.