Valletta 1
Hamrun S. 1
Despite their abundant talent and dominance on the Championship, Valletta failed to beat Hamrun Spartans and had to settle for a disappointing draw.
But a point apiece ensures Valletta increased their lead to 13 points over Tarxien Rainbows this morning and Hamrun, who interrupted a barren run of four consecutive defeats, share sixth place with Qormi on the 20-point mark.
Both teams gave debut starts to new players. Bulgarian Nikolai Chipev played in central defence for Hamrun, as they tried to make up for long term absences of Hrubsa and Roderick Fenech. The Spartans again left Kokavessis and Anizoba on the bench.
Valletta added another foreigner to their already strong squad, introduced Brazilian forward Antunes Andrade Anderson, with Temile making way. Ryan Fenech was facing his former mates after making his first appearance for Valletta the previous week, but his contribution yesterday lasted only 35 minutes when he was forced out with some pulled muscle.
On the other end, Dyson Falzon, loaned to Hamrun, was also playing against familiar faces.
The first half was a lull of all sorts and devoid of incident, with both sides lacking commitment and urgency.
The fluidity of Valletta’s dominating display against Sliema Wanderers only seven days before, was conspicuously lacking as the leaders remained in second gear.
They carved out only one half chance midway through the half when a Denni free kick was repelled by keeper Borg, Scerri was quick to take the loose ball but the Hamrun custodian saved into a corner.
Luckily, things improved slightly in the second half as the teams reappeared more fried up.
On 49 minutes Mangion whipped his free kick inside the Valletta area but Falzon missed the target as Anderson headed a Steve Borg cross straight on the Hamrun keeper.
On 57 minutes the stalemate was finally broken. Roderick Briffa’s shot was parried by keeper Borg, who was rendered helpless by the Valletta midfielder’s second effort on the rebound.
Hamrun put in Kokavessis for Perreira but there were close shaves for Valletta after that. Denni, put clear by Briffa on the right, shot wide and Temile, who had gone in for Sammut, played a square pass to Gilbert Agius, whose effort went tantalisingly wide.
Hamrun were still in the game though. A Grima free kick whistled wide and Shields chested the ball inside the area with his back towards goal but his overhead kick was off target.
On 76 minutes Dyson Falzon connected well with a long ball and hit a smacking left foot shot from outside the area that left keeper Hogg hooked to his line. But there were no celebrations by the scorer.
Three minutes later Valletta could have regained the lead when awarded a penalty for Bonnici’s foul on Temile. Terence Scerri, who has scored four penalties already this season, scuffed a weak shot from the spot for keeper Borg to save.
There was still time for the teams to create a chance at each end. Falzon’s dipper was tipped over the bar into a corner by keeper Hogg and in added time Gilbert Agius clipped the upright with his header on a Temile cross.
Valletta: A. Hogg, R. Briffa, S. Borg, J. Caruana, I. Azzopardi, R. Dos Santos, K. Sammut (O. Temile), A. Anderson (E. Agius), D. Dos Santos, R. Fenech (G. Agius), T. Scerri
Hamrun S: O. Borg, S. Bonnici, J. Vukanic, M. Grima, D. Camilleri, R. Mangion, G. Spiteri, M. Pereira (D. Kokavessis), D. Falzon, N. Chipev, D. Shields (P. Anizoba)
Referee: A.M. Sant Asst.refs: I. Spiteri, M. Debono 4th official: C. Pisani
Scorers: R. Briffa 57, D. Falzon
Yellow cards: T. Scerri, M. Grima, D. Dos Santos
Player of the match: D. Falzon (Hamrun S)
TMI top 3: 1. M. Grima 2. R. Briffa 3. D. Falzon
Attendance: 3,441