Sliema W.  4   Melita  0
 

Sliema Wanderers moved into second place alongside Birkirkara and Hibernians – on 16 points – after easily defeating lowly Melita 4-0.

The Stripes and the Paolites, however, have today’s match between them in hand.

It was a deserved victory for the Blues who scored two early goals through Ivan Woods, one of them a penalty, and never looked back, adding a further two goals on the changeover..

In the Sliema side, goalkeeper Henry Bonello was returning to the first team after injury. The Blues also had Muchardi missing through suspension. Melita had Matthew Borg and Michael Martin missing.

In the first half, Sliema had the match well under control especially after taking an early lead which they consolidated soon after.

The Blues showed the better ideas and merited their two-goal lead at the interval.

Melita appeared to be in difficulty after suffering that early goal and were shocked soon after when they conceded a penalty for Sliema’s second goal.

At the start of the second half, Melita appeared to be mounting a rally, but when Ruggiero scored a beauty to extend his side’s lead, then they had to throw in the towel.

The Blues were a superior outfit and after scoring a fourth goal, they lost some other chances before Melita missed a penalty – their only real chance to score a goal throughout the 90 minutes.

After a slow start by both teams, Sliema went close to open the scoring on the fifth minute through a Ruggiero fine effort that went just over.

In the next action, however, Sliema took the lead as Laudisi set Woods perfectly and the striker advanced unhindered to beat goalie Sapiano easily.

Sliema continued to dominate and it was no surprise that they extended their lead on the 12th minute. They were awarded a penalty for a Vella Petroni foul on Laudisi. Ivan Woods made no mistake from the 11-metre kick.

The active Laudisi then crossed for Barbetti who controlled the ball to hit just over the bar from just outside the area.

When Ivan Woods cried off injured, Melita started moving forward with more purpose and, before the interval, they scored through Negrin after a good move between Galea and Sammut, but the point was rightly disallowed for offside.

Substitute Valenzia was in action soon after his entry on the pitch. His fierce shot from outside the area went just wide.

At the other end, Sapiano had to dive sideways to turn to corner a fine Miguel Ciantar freekick.

Soon after, Ruggiero was a protagonist as he rounded three players on the edge of the area before firing a fine left-footer into the top corner.

And a few minutes later, it was substitute Faccini who rounded goalkeeper Sapiano and scored a fourth goal for the Wanderers.

Melita’s reply came through a Vukanic shot which Bonello turned to corner with some difficulty.

Melita had a good chance to score a consolation goal five minutes from the end when Gatt Baldacchino floored Negrin in the area, but from the spot-kick, the same Negrin hit the crossbar and the ball was eventually cleared.

In a swift counter-attack, Sliema went close to adding a fifth goal when Faccini advanced unhindered but the onrushing Sapiano managed to take the ball off his feet before the Sliema striker could place the leather at the back of the net.

 

Sliema W.: H. Bonello, A. Muscat, P. Barbetti, A. Decesare, C. Gatt Baldacchino, I. Woods (M. Scerri), L. Ruggiero, A. Laudisi (A. Faccini), M. Ciantar, B. Muscat, S. Biancardi (J. Mifsud).
Melita: M. Sapiano, K. Vella Petroni, I. Tufegdzic, G. Gribbon, J. Vukanic, MR Sierra Camacho, L. Micallef, JL Armaro Negrin, J. Galea, L. Sammut (M. Valenzia), N. Rizzo.
Referee: M. Apap
Asst refs: E. Spiteri, P. Apap
4th official: M. Borg.
Scorers: I. Woods 2, L. Ruggiero, A. Faccini,
Yellow cards: K. Vella Petroni,  M. Valenzia, A. Decesare, M. Ciantar
Player of the match: L. Ruggiero (Sliema W)
TMI Top 3: 1. I. Woods, 2. L. Ruggiero; 3. A. Laudiso