St George’s 0

St Patrick 0

St Patrick and St George’s had to settle for a point each after a scoreless relegation battle. The result leaves both side in deep relegation trouble as their salvation hopes are getting slimmer and slimmer.

The match left much to be desired even though St Patrick were by far the better team. However they missed some chances as they appeared to lack that necessary punch upfront.

St George’s are in even deeper trouble as they are in bottom place and have even played a game more than their direct opponents. For St George’s this was the ninth consecutive match without a win, and they have not even scored a goal in their last six matches. With six matches left their possibilities are really few.

St Patrick were the better team in the first part of the match and Ryan Marmara made a great save off an Alex Ellul curling shot from the edge of the area. From the resultant corner taken by Jurgen Farrugia, the ball beat Marmara but Dylan Zarb cleared off the goal line.

On 18 minutes St Patrick had a goal disallowed when in a melee in front of goal, Evair Grech hit the upright and eventually put the back of the net from a series of rebounds, but the goal was disallowed for a foul on goalkeeper Marmara. Four minutes later St. George’s had a good chance with Gorgi Dolmov’s shot on the turn going wide.

On the resumption St George’s had two god chances through Dolmov who shot wide and with a Dylan Zarb solo run that was easily saved by goalkeeper Jonathan Grech.

The same goalkeeper was again called in action to block a Gary Inguanez shot. St Patrick hit back with a well taken freekick by Spasov slightly missing the base of the upright. On 73 minutes Spasov had a good run on the left flank before passing towards Alex Ellul whose grounder missed the base of the upright by a whisker. St. Patrick continued to press forward with Morgan Onurah missing a glorious chance from the heart of the penalty area.

The last minutes were very tense with St Patrick always on the attack with bottom placed St George’s defending with all their might till the final whistle.

St. George’s R. Marmara, D. Zahra, L. Dos Santos Rocha (J. Ruiz), E. Sevasta, A. Abela, G. Inguanez, R. Boutahir, D. Zarb, E. Amaira (A. Bonello), K. Grech (A. Mercieca), G. Dolmov

St. Patrick J. Grech, E. Grech, M. Vella (M. Xerri), A. Galea, A. Ellul, C. Camilleri (D. Micallef), J. Farrugia, R. Ceka, S. Spasov, M. Onorah, I. Scicluna (D. Fava).

Referee Philip Farrugia