St Andrews 0
Lija 1
St Andrews: Matthew Towns, Neil Chetcuti, Ben Diacono, Brian Said, Michael Johnson, (72’ Mattheu Desira Buttigieg), William Camilleri, Joseph Farrugia, Nicki Vella Petroni, Michael Grima (58’ Peter Anizoba), Rumen Kerehov, Trajo Grosev
Lija: Luke Bonnici, Clayton Giordmaina, Timothy Fleri Soler (90’ Ricardo Saverino Gonzales), Matthew Fleri Soler, Daniel Scerri, Erton Beu, Leotiev Konda (52’ A Mercieca), Andre Scicluna, Beppe Antignolo, Aboullahi Adeshina Ige, Antoine Sacco (79’ Dejan Vukovic)
Referee: Philip Farrugia
Asst.refs: Karl Frendo Cumbo, Albert Borg Cardona
4th official: Malcolm Spiteri
A sole goal by Tiomoty Fleri Soler after only 14 minutes was enough for Lija to reach the last four of the competition.
St. Andrew’s who are presently occupying sixth place in the the first division, entered the U-Bet FA Trophy in the second round where they beat Birzebbugia 2-0. In the next stage, they beat Msida with the same score and in the fourth round, they played against Mqabba winning 4-1 after the game went in extra time.
Lija, who are also in the same division as St Andrew’s but are currently in third place, eliminated Siggiewi in the second round (3-1). In the third round, they played against Gharghur winning 2-1. To reach the quarter finals, they had to beat Premier team Floriana by an only goal in the match to continue their progress.
The game started with St Andrew’s on the attack and on the 10th minute, a fierce shot from the distance by William Camilleri forced Lija’s keeper to punch the ball away.
A few seconds later, Trajto Grezev saw his effort saved by Luke Bonnici. On their first attack Lija went ahead, when from a corner by Leontiv, a header by Timothy Fleri Soler gave no chance tothe St Andrew’s goalie.
On the 20 minute a crossshot by Lija’s Ige almost found the net but the ball went just wide. In the 32nd minute Ige set Beu who forced Towns to a save with his feet.
The first half ended with Lija keeping their slender advantage.
Lija continued where they left in the first half attacking from the flanks but were not a serious treat to St Andrew’s.
On the other hand, the Saints were losing the ball in midfield and were poor in attack. But from a corner by Joseph Farrugia in the box, they could have equalised but there was no one to apply the killer touch.
In a swift counter attack, Lija almost increased the lead as Sacco and Beu exchanged the ball and the latter headed the ball down for Towns to produce a good save and save his team from conceding another goal.
St Andrew’s had a good chance to level the score but the Lija defence managed to clear the ball just as it was going towards the goal line.
Beu had a shot was saved on the line by Ben Diacono after a solo run.
In the dying minutes, the Saints laid siege on the Lija defence and it was the good saves of keeper Bonnici that saw Lija progressing into the last four.