Ten-man Naxxar pick up point against Żabbar

NAXXAR LIONS 1-1 ŻABBAR ST. PATRICK
Edward Bolanos 2 (N); Stefan Jovancic 72 (Ż)

A desperate rearguard action from 10-man Naxxar held Żabbar St Patrick to a 1-1draw that suited neither side.

Naxxar took the Saints by surprise, breaking the deadlock inside the first two minutes. St Patrick dominated possession after taking full advantage of their numerical superiority but were unable to make the most of the chances they created.

St Patrick’s biggest hope of grabbing hold of a lifeline came in the shape of midfielder Brian Gambarte who missed a penalty midway through the first half. Yet, the second half, defender Strahinja Jovancic came to his side rescue to restore the equilibrium.

Dorde Jovacic was handed a starting berth yesterday to fill the void left by Stefan Ilic who had to settle for a place on the bench.

Edward Bolanos for his Venezuelan compatriot Jhanluis  Hernandez was the only change in the Naxxar’s line up.

And Bolanos repaid George Vella’s faith in him immediately as inside the first two minutes, the Venezuelan player bundled the ball home after a goalmouth scramble.

St Patrick were immediately forced to reshuffle the pack and chase the game and had their chances to draw level.

The first half was short on quality, but high on incident and left Naxxar cursing the officials when Yasukaze Ito hauled Kristian Keqi down in the box and referee Matthew Degabriele pointed to the penalty spot and sent off the Naxxar winger.

But the resulting spot kick, Brian Gambarte was hypnotised by the goalkeeper as the Żabbar midfielder hit the ball straight at Matthias Debono.

For the most part in the opening period it was Zabbar who called the tune.

On 33 minutes, Keqi hit a diagonal shot which went agonisingly wide. Five minutes later, Jurgen Pisani picked out Gambarte with exquisite pass, but the midfielder missed the target from a good position.

St Patrick were displaying all their attacking quality, despite Naxxar’s obvious attempt to entice them into a physical battle.

Naxxar were soon under the cosh again in the second half with both Jovancic and Vinicius da Paiva finishing wide off the mark with half chances created by pure pressure.

So, it was no great surprise when Jovancic  headed down Gambarte’s cross to earn Żabbar’s much deserved equaliser.

On minute from time, Gambarte was out of luck again when he hit the foot of the post. But the last chance fell to Oliveira Souza who saw his header fabulously palmed away by Debono.