Convincing Win for the Hotspurs

Convincing Win for the Hotspurs

Victoria Hotspurs 3 – 0 St George’s

Scorers: 43′ Rodrick Briffa, 57′ Own Goal, 73′ Ferdinando Apap

In Friday nights’ early kick-off, Champions Victoria Hotspurs added another victory to their supremacy, beating St George’s 3-0 in another one-sided game. There is no doubt who has been the best team at this level this season, in which the Gozitans settled various records.

Both teams had several regulars missing through suspension, most notably strikers Kurt Borg and Rondinely Moneiro for Victoria while coach Edmond Lufi, also suspended, had to start without three regulars but at least welcomed back team captain Matthew Gauci. The Blues where a disappointing lot however, failing to produce a single attempt on target throughout the 90 minutes.

Shaun Attard was close early in the match when on six minutes, his precise grounder hit the post before the Blues rear-guard could clear. A minute later, Wellington rounded stand-in goalkeeper Jake Schiavone but kicked the ball wide over the bar from an ideal angle. The Hotspurs, missed another golden opportunity to break the deadlock on 27 minutes with Emmanuel Mbong failing to find target from close-range after a probing Matthias Said run on the left flank.

Four minutes later, Roderick Briffa sent Mbong through but the striker missed once more. Not much later, Schiavone dived in style in front of the feet of Daniel Farrugia, who had the opener on his shoes but was denied by the Blues custodian. However, two minutes before half-time, Said crossed perfectly towards Briffa who headed home his first goal of the season for the Gozitans.

Right after the break, Briffa came close to double with an accurate attempt from the edge of the area which sailed wide while moments later, Shaun Attard’s thunderbolt hit the crossbar. On 57 minutes, the Hotspurs doubled when Mbong was sent in the clear with young right back Jayden Aquilina scoring an own goal in an attempt to clear the ball. Mbong wasted another opportunity on 62 minutes with Schiavone blocking brilliantly, saving Ferdinando Apap’s weak header in the rebound. However, the former Hibernians player did much better on 75 minutes when he, unmarked, headed past Schiavone from a splendid Attard cross, signing for his side’s third and last goal of the evening.