Ħamrun striker Luke Montebello wheels away after scoring his team's winner against Gżira United. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli
Ħamrun Spartans striker Luke Montebello was visibly delighted after scoring the all-important goal that handed his team a 1-0 win over Gżira United but more importantly a ninth Premier League title on Saturday.
The Malta forward came off the bench to drill the ball home with nine minutes remaining to send the Spartans fans into ecstasy as the club took an unassailable 17-point lead over Gżira at the top of the standings.
“Unfortunately this season, I didn’t play as much as I would have liked but today I managed to score the most important goal that gave our team the league title and I am really delighted,” Montebello said.
Video: Matthew Mirabelli
“For a striker scoring goals gives you a lot of confidence and I will continue to work hard to continue to help the team’s cause.
“We may have won the title, but there are four matches to go till the end of the season and the goal for us is to approach these matches with a professional approach to win every single match and end the season in the best possible way.”
For midfielder Matthew Guillaumier this was his second league title with the Spartans and the Malta midfielder said that this time the team won the crown by dominating more matches.
“Defeating our closest rivals was the best way to win the Premier League title as it rubberstamped that we fully deserved to be crowned champions,” Guillaumier said.
“I have been blessed to have already won a title with Ħamrun Spartans but this time we are playing a different kind of game. In fact, two years ago we focused more on quick counter breaks while this year we dominated and controlled more the matches, failing to pick up all points in just three matches so far.
“Now the focus will surely be to start preparing for our adventure in European football to try and do better than last summer.”
On his part, Steve Borg hailed the team’s collective strength but has called on his team-mates to keep working hard to try and continue to improve as a team.
“This was a tough journey to win this year’s championship,” Borg told the Times of Malta.
“None of the matches were played were easy but our major strength was the collectivity of the team as each player fitted very well in our team as shown in our strong run in Europe.
“I have won league titles with Valletta and if you had to compare the two I don’t see big differences as both teams were very strong. The only difference is that we dominated more matches.
“But now we can’t stop. The goal has to be to keep working and always try to improve as you alway have room to continue to become a stronger side.”
