Marsaxlokk overcome Żabbar St Patrick to bag second successive win

ŻABBAR SP 1

Tavares 12

MARSAXLOKK 3

Quitongo 30, Aguirre 38, Bonnici 90

ŻABBAR SP

L. Camilleri, F. Bonilha, B. Gambarte (46 D. Oliveira Souza), S. Gatt (73 I.Davey), S. Ilic, D. Tavares, V. De Paiva (85 Z. Grech), D. Fava, J. De Sa Mendonca, D. Jovicic, M. Barros

MARSAXLOKK

M. Drobnjak, K. Micallef, N. Muscat, Y. Messias (85 D. Bonnici), J. Arias (90 R. Holzhauser), J. Quitongo (79 P. Carvalho), L. Lopes, A. De Aguiar, E, Pena Beltre (79N. Raden), L. Aguirre, R. Scicluna.

Referee: Ishmael Barbara

Yellow cards: Gomes Mendonca, Vinicius, Muscat, Micallef, Bonnici.

Leonardo Aguirre was Marsaxlokk’s inspiration as they inflicted a fifth defeat on Żabbar SP to leapfrog them in the table.

The cure of new coach Enzo Potenza is working at Marsaxlokk as they chalked up their second consecutive victory in the space of four days.

Few Premier League players strike the ball better than Aguirre. The Argentine set up Jai Quitongo’s opener before then putting his side ahead with a well-taken free-kick.

Then late on substitute Duane Bonnici wrapped up the points.

Marsaxlokk started well and Yuri Messias, neatly wriggled away from a tackle but sent his left-foot effort into the arms of Luca Camilleri.  

But St Patrick made their first attempt count as the ball fell to Brian Gambarte on the edge of the box and the Argentine midfielder linked up with Joao Tiogo Tavares who drilled his right-foot shot past Marko Drobnjak.

Żabbar almost doubled their advantage when Sean Gatt went on a run, cut inside from the left and unleashed a fierce shot which went just wide.

But Marsaxlokk levelled matters on 30 minutes. Aguirre’s effort from the right was deflected onto the bar by the Saints defender Dorde Jovicic. But Camilleri could not keep out Jai Quitongo’s header from close-range.

Marsaxlokk’s main threat was coming from Aguirre’s deadball expertise.

The Southseasiders took the lead when Messias won a free-kick just outside the box. The freekick was awarded in perfect Aguirre territory and the wingback arrowed a shot over the Żabbar wall and into the top corner.

The second half failed to live up to the thrilling pace of the opening period but there were flashes of brilliance.

One of them, came eight minutes into the second half from Marcelo Barros Santos when he jinked his way through two Marsaxlokk defenders only to see his shot finishing wide.

Żabbar battled gamely, but they lacked real quality. On 78 minutes, Stefan Ilic tried to outsprint the goalkeeper but instead he headed down to dead-end after a good run.  The quick-thinking llic passed the ball towards the centre of the area where Vinicius flashed in to make contact with the ball only to see his effort cleared off the line by Luca Lopes.

Marsaxlokk deservedly sealed the points at death when Alex de Aguiar punished some lax defending from St Patrick to set up substitute Duane Bonnici who hit a low drive behind Camilleri.