Hamrun and Gzira made it through to the next round of the Conference League on Thursday, winning their respective games, while Floriana were eliminated from the same competition.
The following are the reports of the matches.
Hamrun score four goals in 20 minutes to go through
Hamrun S.-Alashkert 4-1 (agg. 4-2)
Ħamrun S.: H. Bonello, S. Borg, E. Marcelina, O. Bjelicic (O. Bjelcic 79’), J. Corbolan, R. Prsa, M. Guillaumier (M. Fedele 83’), R. Camenzuli, J. Robert, E. Sukisa (I. Nedeljkovic 56’), D. Soares ( E. Eder 78’)
FC Alashkert: O. Čančarević, T. Cametá, T. Voskanyan, D. Kadio, A. Edigaryan (F. Burbano 76’), T. Galvão (A. Karapetian 76’), A. Grigoryan, D. Khurtsidze (S. Metoyan 83’), B. Hohannisyan (R. Hovsepyan 63’), James, B. Diaz Saavedra (B. Diaz 46’)
Scorers: A. Yedigaryan 48’, R. Prsa 55’, O. Bjelicic 63’, J. Robert 73’, D. Soares 75’
Referee: Milos Savovic (Montenegro)
Hamrun Spartans staged a great comeback yesterday crushing Alashkert 4-1 to through 4-2 on aggregate.
It was a great performance from the Sapartans who dominated the match, but then suffered a goal against the run of play early in the second half.
But here the Spartans, trailing by two goals on aggregate and pushed by a bumper crowd at the Centenary stadium, started their comeback, scoring four goals in quick succession to send the Spartans loyal supporters in raptures.
On the 55th, Hamrun equalised when off a cross from the right, Roko Prsa headed home past the Alashkert goalkeeper.
The Spartans forged ahead on the 63rd when off a corner by Prsa from the right, Ognjen Bjelicic headed the ball past Cancerevic.
Hamrun were now brimming with confidence and on the 73rd, Jonny made it 3-1, hitting home past Cancerevic following a cross by Camenzuli from the left.
Two minutes later, the Spartans went 4-1 ahead when off a Roko Prsa freekick, Steve Borg headed the ball down and Ailton Jorge Soares ‘Dodo’ tapped the ball home from close range.
Photo: Domenic Aquilina
Gzira win in extra time to qualify
Atletic Escaldes Gzira U 0-1 (agg. 1-2)
Atletic Escaldes: Alejandro Ruiz, Alex Pistero, Alex Sanchez, Hamza Bouharma (62’ Xavi Puerto), Guillaume Sylvain Lopez, Victor Maffeo, Alex Martinez (61’ Jorge Bolivar), Ivan Garrido (89’ David Lopez), Javier Morales (73’ Eric Ruiz), Victor Perez, Victo Alonso (88’ Gemelos).
Gzira Utd: Darijan Radelic Zarkov, Gabriel Bohrer Mentz, Nikolai Muscat, Zachary Scerri (91’ Brooklyn Borg), Marcelo Dias, Luis Riascos Torres, Toni
Kolega, Marko Cosic, Maxuell Samurai (91’ Clive Gauci), Jefferson de Assis, Jackson Mendoza (46’ Ricardo Calixto Correa Duarte).
Referee: Vitaliy Romanov (Ukraine)
Gzira United beat Atletic Escaldes in Andorra 1-0 to qualify 2-1 on aggregate.
The all imprtant winner was scored by Jefferson de Assis who scored with a great shot from the edge of the area just before the end of the first half of extra time.
For Gzira this was the fourth timer that they managed to go through in a European competition, the first time in the Europa Conference League.
In the past Gzira twice eliminated anopthert team from Andorra, and three years ago they managed to eliminate the more fancied hajduk Split with a come from behind win in Split.
Yesterday’s match was a baolanced affair with very few scoring opportunities.
With the score fixed with no goals the match went to extra time and was settled by Jefferson de Assis’ winner which sends the Maroons to the next round.
First half goal eliminates Floriana
Petrocub-Floriana 1 0 (agg. 1-0)
Petrocub: Cristian Avram, Victor Mudrac, Iaser Turcan (90+2’ Artem Federov), Vladimir Ambros (74’ Corneliu Cotogoi), Sergiu Platica, Victor Bogaciuc, Iaon-Calin Revenco, Ion Jardan, Constantin Sandu, Marius Iosipoi (90+3’ Maxim Potirniche), Maxim Cojocaru (83’ Alexandru Bejan).
Floriana: Georgi Kitanov, Christian Rutjens, Oualid El Hasni, Kemar Reid, Ulises Arias (86’ Carlo Zammit Lonardelli), James Scicluna (46’ Andrei Ciolacu), Matias Garcia (67’ Mattia Veselji), Lorenzo Trillo (67’ Adam Magri Overend), Emiliano Callegari Torre, Jan Busuttil, Alejandro Garzia (80’ Augusto Rene Caseres).
Referee: Artyom Kuchin KAZ
Floriana suffered a 1-0 defeat in Moldova against Petrocub in the UEFA Europa Conference League and were eliminated from the competition.
It was a tight and balanced affair with Floriana sharing the exchanges for long stretches with their opponents. However Floriana should have done better especially at Ta’ Qali seven days ago, when they were the better team but failed to find the back of the net, settling for a draw.
The all important winner was scored on 26 minutes when Kitanov partially saved a Sandu effort and Turcan fired home from the rebound.