Gżira United cement second place after hitting Pietà Hotspurs for six

PIETA’ HOTSPURS          0

GŻIRA UNITED                 6

Jefferson 6, 52, 84

Kolega 45

Maxuell 58

Espindola 68

PIETA’ HOTSPURS

S. Moschin-7; S. Okoh-6, T. Ojo-6, D. Zerafa-6, J. Ghio-6 (46 K. Leonardi-6), T. Agius-6, A. Hovhannisyan-6.5 (78 K. Briffa, Z. Leonardi-6, G. Ogungbe-6, Marinho-6 (65 A. Wismayer), T. Yamaguchi-6 (65 A. Ajroud).

GŻIRA UNITED

D. Cassar-6; G. Bohrer-6.5 (64 L. Tabone), N. Muscat-6.5, S. Pisani-7 (57 A. Borg-6.5), Z. Scerri-6.5 (71 B. Borg), M. Dias-6.5 (64 T. Espindola), T. Kolega-6.5, M. Cosic-6.5, Maxuell-7 (64 Macula), Jefferson-7, J. Mendoza-6.5.

Referee Matthew De Gabriele.

Yellow cards Ghio, Okoh, Mendoza, Zerafa.

BOV Player of the Match Jefferson (Gżira United). 

Gżira United cemented their second place in the BOV Premier League after cruising past Pieta’ Hotspurs 6-0.

The Maroons are now on 38 points as they open a four-point gap above Birkirkara who will be in action today, when they face Valletta.

Rodney Bugeja’s side are still on five points after 18 matches as their task to stay up in the Premier continues to become even more difficult.

For the Hotspurs, three players made their debut namely goalkeeper Simone Moschin, Armen Hovhannisyan, and Marinho – all joined during the January transfer window. The other January signing, Anis Ajroud, came on in the second half for Pieta’.

Gżira United did not take long to settle down when they broke the deadlock inside the first five minutes.

Jefferson capitalised on a Steve Pisani’s corner-kick to net his 13th goal of the campaign and put the Maroons in the driving seat.

Darren Abdilla’s side were dominating proceedings, threatening mostly from set-pieces including on 29 minutes when Gabriel Bohrer tried his trademark long-range freekick but failed to hit the target.

Pieta’s Moschin diverted a brilliant curling effort from Maxuell into a corner.

Hotspurs’ reply came through the feet of Armen Hovhannisyan whose effort from outside the area went wide of David Cassar’s goal.

The Maroons doubled their lead just before half-time when Toni Kolega fired a brilliant strike into the far corner that beat Italian goalkeeper Moschin.

After the change of ends, Hotspurs’ coach Bugeja inserted forward Kian Leonardi in search of more inspiration in the attacking phase.

Nonetheless, it was Gżira who scored the game’s next goal when Jefferson latched onto a Nikolai Muscat’s well-weighted delivery to beat Moschin and score his 14th league goal.

Gżira added a fourth when substitute Andy Borg converted his first touch of the ball into a perfect delivery to Maxuell who found the net from point-blank range.

Hovhannisyan tried to pull one back with a low strike that was blocked by Cassar.

Thiago Espindola found Gżira’s fifth with a delightful shot from a long distance that stunned Moschin.

In the closing stages of the game, Jefferson completed his hat-trick with his 15th goal of the season to secure Gżira’s six-goal victory.