Lija A 1

Dingli S 1

Lija and Dingli Swallows produced a very entertaining match yesterday to gain a point each.

Dingli went temporarily on top with four points while Lija gained their first point after their dismal performance in their opening match against Vittoriosa Stars.

In fact Lija made tremendous improvement from their first outing and deserved to garb the three points yesterday.

For Dingli, Leontiev Konda made a welcome return after missing the first game, and he immediately made his presence felt when he scored the opening goal of the match.

The first minutes were played at a rather low pace with both sides blotting out each other in midfield.

On 14 minutes Dingli took the lead when Leontiev Konda, who was making his first appearance this season, received a good ball from Warren Chircop, dribbled past goalkeeper Caruana before planting the ball in an empty net.

Dingli’s joy was shortlived however, as Lija were back on level terms three minutes later. A Darmanin cross was well trapped by Erjon Ebu who stunned the Dingli goalkeeper with the ball finishing in the top corner of the net.

On 30 minutes Dingli went close to regain the lead when Warren Chircop created havoc in the Dingli defence but his shot from the edge of the area missed the target by inches. Dingli continued to dictate matters in the final minutes of the first half and went close again with a Formosa freekick that went slightly wide.

Dingli had more possession at the start of the second half but the well organised Lija defence was never really tested. On the other part Lija were menacing with their fast breaks and went very close on 63 minutes when a Scicluna header just missed the target.

Ten minutes later Lija were again very dangerous in front of goal but Beu failed to score following a melee in front of the Dingli goalkeeper.

Dingli were dominant in the last minutes with the Lija goalkeeper Caruana saving his side off shots by Steve Meilak and Warren Chircop.

Dingli S: J. Farrugia, F. Owusu, K. Pace, L. Konda, M. Brincat (J. Sapiano), W. Chircop, K. Formosa, E. Farrugia, S. Meilak, R. Briffa, C. Azzopardi (R. Vella)

Lija A: J. Caruana, C. Giordimaina, R. Conceicao, D. Scerri, E. Beu, K. Darmanin, B. Camilleri (A. Sacco), J.P. Scerri, B. Fenech, A. Scicluna, A. A. Ige

Referee: Sandro Spiteri