Mqabba fought gamely for a whole period and might have given their fans some hope of taking at least a point from their encounter against Sliema Wanderers. Still they conceded an early goal before the quarter hour, only to be outplayed by Sliema’s incisive passing and running in the second.

Mqabba continued where they had left off in the second half against Floriana, that is holding possession and exerting good distribution. They traded equal punches with their opponents for the entire first 45 minutes, only for Sliema to be enjoying the lead at halftime.

Sliema, who were without the suspended Mark Scerri and Rumen Galabov still missing due to injury, completely took the bit between their teeth in the second half, carved in several chances, only to be frustrated by keeper Kris Calleja, until they scored the all assuring goal with quarter of an hour remaining, by which time Mqabba looked drained of ideas.

Buoyed by the return from suspension of Timotic at the back, and the inclusion of new signing Bojan Mamic from Serbia, Mqabba looked competitive enough to give the Wanderers a decent challenge.

They did the early running but Sliema produced the first real threat after ten minutes when Mifsud Triganza’s rising shot just missed the target.

Three minutes later Mazzitelli’s shot from his keeper’s kick upfield, forced keeper Bonello to his first difficult save, turning into a corner.

Within a minute, the goal came at the other end. Mifsud Triganza won possession on the left and advanced before sending a low inviting cross for Jorge Silva to race from the blind side and score.

To their credit, Mqabba were not demorilised and kept the Sliema rearguard under pressure, raking long balls inside the area. Towards the half hour they created two good opportunities. Mazzitelli ran through the middle but was providentially blocked by keeper Bonello and then Mamic failed to connect to Claudio Calleja’s corner.

In between, Mqabba’s keeper Kris Calleja was forced to hold out Silva’s powerful drive.

Sliema should have doubled their lead ten minutes into the second half when Mitev played a perfect pass to Mifsud Triganza but the striker hesitated too long and the keeper blocked.

Calleja produced some superlative goalkeeping to deny the Wanderers on the hour. He rushed off his line to smother the danger when Mitev ran clear on Silva’s through pass.

And on 68 minutes Bajada played the ball forward to the Bulgarian midfielder but Calleja was alert to block neatly at his feet as Sliema started to bask in their superiority.

The second goal looked inevitable and in fact it came on 74 minutes. Bajada played a square pass to Jorge Silva who finally surprised the keeper with a shot from the edge of the area to seal the issue and give Sliema their first league win.

For all their bold efforts, Mqabba were left with nothing to show at the end.

Mqabba K. Calleja, P.Grima, M. Potezica, A. Scicluna, B. Timotic, D. Azzopardi (R. Sammut), T. Mazitelli, C. Calleja (S. Magro), M. Bonnici (T. Paris), C. Micallef, B. Mamic

Coach C. Mizzi

Sliema W H. Bonello, J. Mifsud, J.P. Mifsud Triganza (J. Ani), D. Mitev, S. Bezzina, C. Gatt Baldachino, J. Lima, R. Bajada, J. Silva (T. Thomas), C. Frendo (R. Grech), B. Muscat

Coach D. Doncic

Referee E. Azzopardi

Asst.refs I. Spiteri, R. Vella

Scorers J. Silva 14, 74

Yellow cards M. Potezica, C. Micallef, C. Gatt Baldacchino, A. Scicluna

Player of the match Jorge Silva (Sliema W)

TMI top 3 1. R. Bajada 2. J. Silva 3. K. Calleja