Valletta ease past Pieta as Qormi lose again

Valletta easily disposed of opponents Pieta thanks to a brace by Hamza Barry to stay in second with Birkirkara. Hamza Barry was the main protagonist for the Champions scoring twice before half time which paved the way for an easy three points

Valletta continue their positive run of results. Photo by Ray Attard
Valletta continue their positive run of results. Photo by Ray Attard

Valletta had the returning Jonathan Caruana and Roderick Briffa replacing Luke Montebello and Llywelyn Cremona in the starting line-up.

Valletta looked in control from the beginning of the match, going close from a Jonathan Caruana effort who missed the post by a bit. On 21 minutes Ryan Fenech’s effort scraped by the post after a free kick taken by Nafti.  After a half hour, again it was Valletta who went close to scoring with Elford-Alliyu hitting the post.

Six minutes before the interval, Valletta went ahead when a corner taken by Nafti, was headed by Barry to beat the Pieta keeper. Just before the break, Valletta went two up with similar fashion when off another corner taken by Nafti, Barry again headed the ball into the net.

The second half barely had any goal scoring opportunities with Valletta easily controlling the match and Pieta waiting for the final whistle.

However eight minutes from time, substitute Luke Montebello made it three goals to nil after receiving from Barry.

In the other match, Qormi suffered a fourth consecutive defeat, at the hands of Mosta, with the blues returning to winning ways after their defeat last weekend.  Qormi have now gone nine matches without a win, now almost certain to be playing in the relegation pool. With this win, Mosta are now sixth on 23 points.

From their last outing, Mosta made six changes to their line-up with Rodriguez Ekani, Ian Zammit, Yannick Ossok, Gary Roberts and Pinheiro De Souza all included.

Qormi were the first to create a scoring opportunity but had to wait until 31 minutes when a shot by Alfred Effiong scraped past the right post. Three minutes later Mosta went ahead when new signing Ian Zammit served De Souza who placed the ball into the net after anticipating the Qormi keeper.

In the second half Mosta went close to making it two when from a direct free kick taken by Dos Santos saw the ball hitting the upright. Only four minutes later, Qormi’s Farrugia blocked another Mosta effort this time by Ribeiro.

On 71 minutes Mosta went two up when after being served by Ribeiro, De Souza had no difficulty putting past Farrugia

Qormi pulled a goal back ten minutes before the end thanks to a direct free kick by Mazzetti.

A couple minutes later, Mosta ended all hopes Qormi had of drawing the game when from close range, Ekani secured all three points for his side.

BOV Man of the Match: Diogo Pinheiro De Souza

BOV Man of the Match: Hamza Barry