Melita 1

Vittoriosa S 1

Vittoriosa and Melita left it late as they scored in the final minutes of the match to settle for a draw in a balanced match with a very tense finale.

To be frank Vittoriosa, gighting a bitter fight against relegation deserved the three points at stake as they dominated for long stretches against a Melita side that never came to grips with their opponents.

Vittoriosa held territorial superiority for much of the match and even had the better chances in front of goal, but they were not sharp in front of goal and in the end they were made to pay for their mistakes.

For Melita it was a disappointing result as they lost two precious points in their promotion hunt, but they should consider themselves lucky to have gained a point from this match.

In the first minute Malcolm Buttigieg passed towards Marcelo Periera who missed a sitter in front of goal. Melita went close with a Julian Galea shot that sailed over the bar. On 15 minutes Melita goalkeeper Sapiano saved a dangerous Sierra Camacho freekick.

Three minutes later Sapiano made a great save off a Ramon Dos Santos close range header. Vittoriosa goalkeeper Vella again saved another Sierra Camacho freekick and Nicolo Baldacchino missed a sitter in front of goal with only Vella to beat.

On the half hour Leighton Grech went through inside the box but he crossed in the middle instead of shooting home from an ideal position.

On the resumption Vittoriosa went close with a Leighton Grech shot that was partially saved by Sapiano and from the rebound Adam Spiteri’s point blank effort was blocked by a defender.

The match was rather boring in the second half with Vittoriosa always having the upper hand. Three minutes from time Vittoriosa were rewarded when a long ball from defence caught the Melita defence on the wrong foot and susbstitute Mark Barbara advanced to beat Sapiano.

Melita pushed everything forward in the remaining minutes and on 90 minutes Luke Vella Critien appeared to handle the ball inside the area with the referee awarding the penalty. From the spot Manwel Sierra Camacho’s shot was saved by Vella but from the rebound the same player slotted home the equalizer.

Melita M. Sapiano, M. Sierra Camacho, G. Gribbon, M. Martin, M. Borg, K. Micallef, N. Baldacchino (R. De Almeida), J. Galea, M. Valencia (S. Galea), K. Vella Petroni (A. Caruana Scicluna), J. Vukanic.

Vittoriosa S J.M. Vella, L. Vella Critien, J. Camilleri, M. Pereira (L. Lagana), D. Pace (M. Barbara), K.M. Robinson, M. Buttigieg, R. Brincat, L. Grech, R. Dos Santos, A. Spiteri (J. Spiteri).

Referee Karl Frendo Cumbo.