Hamrun S 1

Qormi 0

Deane Shields scored a goal of immeasurable importance yesterday to give Hamrun Spartans a narrow win over Qormi that lifts them to only one point adrift of their opponents in the top two spots of the BOV Premier League Relegation Pool and in the safety zone.

The goal, 20 minutes from time, gave Hamrun the breathing space they needed at a time when Qormi had been cranking up the pressure.

Qormi can only blame themselves for this defeat as they showed too much profligacy and failed to make the best of the several opportunities that could have even won them the match.

A pulsating first half during which four players were booked, Qormi missed a penalty and Hamrun had their claims for another penalty turned down by the referee, with near misses at both ends.

Hamrun carved out the first chance with hardly three minutes on the clock. Spiteri’s effort was fisted out by keeper Matthew Farrugia for Ribeiro to hit the loose ball but Kouadio cleared off the line.

Qormi responded with a Joseph Farrugia long ball to Pereira whose low diagonal shot ended inches wide.

Caruana put his shot over and then fluffed good work by Pereira when he shot over before the match was a quarter hour old.

On 17 minutes, Qormi won a penalty when Hartvig fouled Bartolo who had gone past him from the byline inside the Hamrun area. Keeper Borg made a one-handed save to deny Joseph Farrugia from the spot and keep his side into the game.

That miss took off some of Qormi’s confidence and Hamrun immediately capitalized. They themselves had a claim for a penalty turned down on 20 minutes as Sammut’s shot looked to have been blocked by Bartolo’s hand. Play went uninterrupted and keeper Farrugia saved Spiteri’ shot into a corner, as Sammut was booked for protests.

Qormi missed the most glaring opportunity past the half hour though. Joseph Farrugia came closest to rewarding the dominance enjoyed by his team by beating the Hamrun defence, outpaced Camilleri but shot wide with only the keeper in his way.

Pereira sent a diagonal shot wide as Qormi continued to look profligate by halftime.

The second half was less enterprising with the early niceties long forgotten.

Qormi again carved the better chance in the opening minutes but Chetcuti shot Bello-Osagie’s testing cross wide.

Hamrun were allowed more comfort on the ball and came up with some threat of their own. Shields twice sent efforts off target and Grima had his shot saved by keeper Matthew Farrugia.

The Spartans summoned enough effort to score the decisive goal with 20 minutes remaining. Substitute Gauci did the running down the left flank and crossed low for Deane Shields to shoot past the helpless Qormi keeper.

Qormi looked demoralized and never really looked dangerous after that. Deep into two minutes of added time Caruana rattled the cross bar with a shot, that deserved better fate, from outside the area.

Even Lady Luck had deserted Qormi at the end!

Hamrun S O. Borg, G. Calabretta, D. Camilleri, S. Bonnici, R. Hartvig, M. Grima, L. Agius (D. Zerafa), A. Ribeiro, D. Shields, K. Sammut, G. Spiteri (M. Gauci)

Coach S. Sultana

Qormi M. Farrugia, R. Sammut, M. Bartolo, J. Chetcuti, J. Farrugia, J. Bondin, J. Pereira, K. Thackray, T. Caruana, A. Bello-Osagie, V. Kouadio

Coach S. Azzopardi

Referee P. Caruana

Asst.refs I. Spiteri, P. Apap

4th official C. Lautier

Scorers D. Shields 71

Yellow cards V. Kouadio, R. Hartvig, K. Sammut. A. Bello-Osagie, D. Camilleri, G. Calabretta, S. Bonnici, J. Chetcuti

Player of the match D. Shields (Hamrun S)

TMI top 3 1. D. Shields 2. K. Thackray 3. D. Camilleri

Attendance 1,111