A Goal in Each Half Gives Spartans a Merited Win
The Spartans march on to a perfect record, registering their 5th win out of 5 matches. This match showed that the Spartans were superior in ball possession, and apart from some very short spells, Floriana found it hard to play organised football. The 2-0 win came as a result from goals by Matthew Guillaumier and Elvis Mashike. However, it was the collective display and flowing football that caught the eye of all those present at the stadium or watching it live on TV. Hamrun started off with a blast and it was evident that our players were creating space and quickly attacking the available space. This immediately unsettle the Floriana defence and Guillaumier concluded a fantastic move to make the score 1-0 after less than 3 minutes. The fans were ecstatic not only for the goal but for the way it was created, as this showed how well knit our team currently is, with Jonny and Prsa contributing in no small way to the goal. It only took another 2 minutes for Hamrun to be dangerous once again, as Kitanov had to turn Dodo’s effort into a corner with difficulty.
The dominance continued throughout the game with the Spartans having two goals disallowed for close call offside positions, as well as shouts for a penalty that seemed rather legitimate. On the other hand, Floriana were more than lucky not to finish the 1st half in 10 men when Juarez could have easily collected a total of 3 yellow cards but the referee decided to grace him. Although the Spartans continued to dominate possession in the 2nd half, with Jonny making some incisive runs on the right, goal opportunities were rather scarce. In fact the most noticeable moments were Kitanov’s on attempts by Montebello and Camenzuli. However, the Spartans made sure of the 3 points when Montebello and Mashike took advantage of a Floriana rearguard blunder. Magri Overend was under pressure from Montebello, and the former passed the ball to Kitanov. Mashike intercepted the ball which fell into Montebello’s feet who tried to round Kitanov who partially saved. At this stage, Mashike took the loose ball, rounded Kitanov, and put the ball at the back of the net to send the Spartan fans into ruptures, while Mashike sported a new celebration.
This was a great game that augurs well for the coming game against our rivals. Well done boys!!
Karl Attard
Line-Up
Bonello, Borg, Bjelicic, Marcelina, Camenzuli, Corbalan (90’ Xerri), Prsa, Guillaumier (82’ Vinicius),
Jonny (68’ Mashike), Dodo (68’ Eder), Montebello