Vittoriosa S 4

St Patrick 1

Vittoriosa Stars continued with their impressive performances, easily beating lowly St Patrick to move completely out of the relegation zone.

But the start was not an easy one for Vittoriosa who could not come to grips with their opponents speed and flair. But the Saints have only themselves to blame for this defeat as they failed to capitalize on a number of good scoring chances in the first thirty minutes of the match. But the Saints missed some sitters and in the end had to resign to a defeat against a superior outfit.

St Patrick had a very good start and went close after only three minutes when a Gockaj shot was well saved by Vela and from the rebound Simon Zerafa shot incredibly wide with an open goal at his mercy.

On eight minutes an Onurah scorcher was well saved by Vella. Vittoriosa hit back with a fast break but Adam Spiteri hesitated in front of goal. On 20 minutes Gockaj passed to the unmarked Spasov who shot straight on goalkeeper Vella.

From the resultant corner, Vella mistimed his sortie and Gockaj headed towards goal, but his effort was cleared off the goal line by Adam Spiteri. On 25 minutes another Vittoriosa fast break with Leighton Grech making the running on the left flank and his cross came towards Marcelo Pereira who shot wide from a very good position.

On 35 minutes the Saints missed another sitter when Gockaj shot incredibly wide in front of goal after a good pass by Spasov. Vittoriosa coach Oliver Spiteri made two substitutions as his side was apparently struggling, with Barbara and Lagana coming in for Pace and Brincat.

These moves paid the dividend as Vittoriosa forged ahead on 42 minutes when a Mark Barbara shot was blocked by a defender and from the rebound Marcelo Pereira fired in the corner of the net.

On the resumption Vittoriosa doubled the score when Marcelo Pereira ran loose on the left flank and crossed towards Leighton Grech who hammered the ball home from two meters.

On 64 minutes Vittoriosa sealed the issue with a third goal when Marcelo Pereira pounced on a defensive blunder and fired low with a precise grounder. Eleven minutes from time St Patrick pulled on back when Jurgen Farrugia fired home direct from a freekick.

On 89 minutes Vittoriosa scored a fourth goal when Marcelo Pereira passed towards Leighton Grech whose shot hit the base of the upright and from the rebound Josef Dalli easily slotted the ball home. In stoppage time Marcelo Pereira almost scored his third goal when his shot slammed against the crossbar.

Vittoriosa S J.M. Vella, D. Pace (L. Lagana), M. Buttigieg, L. Vella Critien, R. Dos Santos, L. Scerri (J. Dalli), A. Spiteri, R. Brincat (M. Barbara), M. Pereira, G. Muir, L. Grech.

St. Patrick J. Grech, D. Fava, M. Xerri, B. Gockaj (S. Agius), S. Zerafa, C. Camilleri (R. Vella), J. Farrugia, S. Spasov, M. Onurah, A. Galea, E. Grech (A. Ellul)

Referee Sandro Spiteri