Naxxar Lions, Marsaxlokk fire blanks
MOSTA 4-2 ŻABBAR SP
Matheus Cambuci 38, Prince Afriyie 56, Souleymane Kone 69, Clayton Failla 77 (M); Marcelo Santos 5 pen., Diogo Tavares 61.
After the Żabbar side opened the scoring from the penalty spot early on, Failla delivered a set piece cross from corner that enabled Mosta to temporarily draw level beforing delvering another superb corner for Souleymane Kone’s header to put Mosta 3-2 ahead. Failla capped an extraordinary evening with a trademark free-kick to earn his side a vital win in their quest to gain a Championship Pool berth.
Mosta have now leapfrogged Ħamrun Spartans and Gżira United in fifth place on 12 points with just two games to the end of the first round.
In a tight opening period, Żabbar St Patrick gave a good account of themselves and broke the deadlock inside the first four minutes.
Matheus Gomes Santos was judged to have brought down Leonardo Agius inside the area and Marcelo Santo Barros cooly drilled past goalkeeper David Udoh Akpan.
The goal gave St Patrick the confidence to push forward and moments later Stefan lIic unleashed a diagonal shot that flashed just wide.
Another sweeping move from the Saints ended with Barros hitting a shot straight at Akpan.
On 24 minutes, Souleymane Kone forced a smart save from Matthew Grech, the Żabbar goalkeeper.
On the half hour mark, Mosta threatened again when Nathan Agius burst past his marker but his shot was hooked off the line by the Żabbar reaguard.
Ilic responded with a surge of his own, cutting the ball back to Barros who miscued his shot.
Mosta hit back with a direct and simple equaliser.
Clayton Failla floated a long ball from corner into the St Patrick box and Gomes Santos stole in to head the ball into the net.
Żabbar made another storming start to the second half, with Agius firing in early shots.
Having weathered the Saints’ early flurry, Prince Afriyie weaved past his marker and smashed his side in front with a superb right-foot strike into the top corner.
However, the game was by no means over and the Saints equalised in the 61st minute through a Joao Diogo Tavares’ header after Ilic crossed superbly from the right.
Mosta went back in front on 70 minutes when Kone rose unopposed to head Failla’s corner home.
Seven minutes later, Mosta extended their lead.
They were awarded a free-kick after Jake Micallef flattened Joshua Agyemang just outside the box and Failla bent his shot beyond the wall and away from Grech’s reach.
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NAXXAR LIONS 0-0 MARSAXLOKK
Naxxar Lions and Marsaxlokk played out a goalless draw on Sunday, leaving both teams entrenched in the lower half of the Premier League standings after nine games.
George Vella’s Naxxar Lions, who ended the match with ten men following Pedro Vitor’s second-half red card, sit in 11th place with 7 points.
Meanwhile, Marsaxlokk, now led by Enzo Potenza, occupy 9th with 8 points.
