Hamrun’s second half brave rally was not enough to save the local champions from defeat against Gibraltar’s Lincoln Red Imps in the first leg of the first qualifying round of the Champi‐ ons League.
The qualification issue is still open, even though Lincoln now have the ground advantage and the precious lead taken yester‐ day.
But the Spartans’ second half performance leaves a slight glim‐ mer of hope for Hamrun.
Surely the sending off of Freitas after barely nine minutes play had a devastating effect on the Spartans’ performance. Lincoln controlled the match with nu‐ merical advantage and scored on 37 minutes for what proved to be the winner.
Just before the break however Kiko Gomez received a second booking and this gave Hamrun fresh hopes of coming back in the game.
In the second half, with ten against ten and with a superb Eder romped in by Zinnari, the locals looked a transformed lot and took full control of the game.
The Spartans were always on the attack in the second half but they just could not put the ball at the back of the net.
On nine minutes Freitas was shown a straight red for a tackle on De Barr.
This was a severe blow for the Spartans and on 16 minutes a Gomez hader was well saved by Bonello.
On 37 minutes Lincoln broke the deadlock when he beat Cor‐ balan on the left and fired a curl‐ ing shot that gave Bonello no chance to save.
Just before the break Gomez re‐ ceived a second booking and was sent off and in the dying seconds some drama with the referee first awarding Lincoln a penalty, but this was overruled by the VAR.
Minutes into the second half a Prsa shot sailed over the bar and a Wendel effort was saved by Santana.
On 67 minutes Santana made the save of the game when he brilliantly saved a Raphael free‐ kick destined for the top corner.
Ten minutes later a Prsa close range header just missed the crossbar by a whisker.
Hamrun pushed everything desperately forward in the re‐ maining minutes creating some anxious moments in the Lincoln penalty area, but the Gibraltar champions somehow survived the onslaught to grab a precious victory.
Ħamrun S: H. Bonello, S. Borg, J. Mbong (L. Montebello 71’), R. Prsa, E. Freitas, W. Barros (T. Barbosa 80′), J. Corbalan, May‐ ron (B. Ederson 46’), E. Marcelina, R. Camenzuli (M. Ellul 86′), R. Lopes (V. Da Silva 86′)
L. Red Imps: N. Santana, I. Ayew (L. Casciaro 71′), B. Lopes (R. Munoz 71’), K. Gomez, T. De Barr (C. Cid 86′), E. Britto (P. Moreno 79′), Nano, Joe (G. Torilla 80′), J. Sergeant, D. Bent, V. Villa‐ canas
Yellow cards: K. Gomez 24’, T. De Barr 45+2′, I. Ayew 64’, J. Ser‐ geant 66′, N. Santana 74′ (L), E. Marcelina 32’, S. Borg 71′ (Ħ)
Red cards: E. Freitas 9’ (Ħ), K. Gomez 45’ (L)
Scorer: E. Britto 37’ (L)
Referee: Aleksandar Stavrev (North Macedonia)