Hamrun Spartans were given a football lesson in the second half by Ferencvaros yesterday s the Hungarian outfit scored at will with Marchetti making a string of saves to avoid further punishment.

Ferencvaros were the favourites and few expected Hamrun qualify, but the humiliation suffered was rather unexpected, especially after the more than promising first half of the Spartans. But on the resumption Hamrun practi‐ cally remained in the dressing room as Ferencvaros toyed with their opponents to make sure of a place in the play‐off stages.

It was an immediate uphill struggle for the Spartans who suf‐ fered an early third minute goal, a spectacular goal with a Mohamed Abu Fani rising shot from over thirty meters that gave Marchetti no chance to save with the ball hit‐ ting the crossbar before finishing at the back of the net.

Two minutes later Hamrun’s first attempt with Camenzuli’s shot well blocked by Dibusz. Hamrun reacted well and Bjelicic had a good effort going over the bar. Hamrun continued to attack and appealed for a penalty on twelve minutes for a handling infringement.

Hamrun were giving much space at the back and Marchetti made a great save off Cisse after a Ferenc‐ varos quick break.

On 26 minutes a good move from the Hungarian outfit with Adama Traore’s close range shot saved by Marchetti.

On 29 minutes Ferencvaros had a glorious chance when Traore’ created havoc on the right before passing to the unmarked Ben Romdhane whose point blank ef‐ fort was brilliantly saved by Marchetti.

The start of the second half was fatal for the local champions who suffered three goals in quick suc‐ cession. On 51 minutes Zachariassen headed home from close range and two minutes later Varga hammered home the re‐ bound after Marchetti had blocked two Zachariassen shots.

The nightmare spell finished on 55 minutes when Varga scored his second of the match with a precise grounder with the ball finishing against the base of the upright be‐ fore finishing at the back of the net.

On 65 minutes Varga completed his hat‐trick with another low drive that gave Marchetti no chance. The Hamrun defence was ripped apart whenever Ferenc‐ varos ventured forward with Varga going close again hitting the upright.

On 75 minutes a brilliant Marchetti and the crossbar avoided the sixth goal off a Traore’ shot. On 89 minutes Hamrun pulled one back when Luke Montebello scored with a great drive from the edge of the area. But sixty seconds later Ferencvaros scored again with a swift moved finished by Owusu in front of goal.

Photo: Domenic Aquilina

Plzen too strong for Gzira

Viktoria Plzen built a four‐goal lead against Gzira United yester‐ day to practically earn a place in the play‐offs round of the Con‐ ference League. Plzen as ex‐ pected proved to be too strong for the Maroons who fought gal‐ lantly but could not match with Plzen’s technical superiority.

Apart from the goals scored Plzen had several other scoring opportunities also hitting the woodwork for three times in the first half.

Plzen dominated the first half and took an early 10th minute lead when a cross shot from the left by Bucha was missed by all, with the ball deceiving goal‐ keeper Cassar and finishing at the back of the net.

Plzen continued to attack and doubled the score on 2 minutes when Durosinmi finished off a slick move with a precise grounder that beat the helpless Cassar.

It could have been much worse for the Maroons who had a ter‐ rible three‐minute spell in which Plzen hit the woodwork three times through Kolvach, Hejda and Chory.

In the second half Gzira con‐ tained their opponents who eased the pressure. Cassar how‐ ever made a couple of daring saves for the Maroons, but could do nothing on 73 minutes when Sulc completely unmarked in the heart of the Gzira penalty area, planted the ball at the back of the net.

Deep in stoppage time Gzira suffered the fourth goal scored goal Kopic.