Valletta hit six past Mosta

bov-premier-league-2013-2014Valletta scored five in the second half to register a most comfortable 6-0 win over Mosta to move to just one point behind joint-leaders Hibernians and Birkirkara.

For Mosta, this was the fourth defeat in six matches, leaving them just two points ahead of Naxxar Lions and four ahead of Floriana, Tarxien and Balzan.

Nigerian midfielder Raimi Bakare made his debut for Valletta as the Citizens lacked Jason Vandelannoite, Hamza Barry and Aziz Corry Nyang apart from Dyson Falzon and Yessous Camilleri. Mosta opted to start with Nicola Cosentini, Haruna Bara and Francesco Calcagno along with Gianmarco Piccioni and Ricardinho as Jonas Rodriguez Ekani was ruled out through suspension.

Valletta took the lead on 12 minutes when off a freekick from the right, Luke Dimech served Jonathan Caruana who headed the ball down past Omar Borg.

Two minutes later, a Luke Dimech effort hit the crossbar with the ball bouncing just off the goal line before being cleared into safety.

On the 26th, Mosta went close to equalising with a fine Ricardinho effort but his fine shot was parried by Yenz Cini.

A goal bound shot by Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza was cleared off the goal line by Ishmael Grech two minutes later. Abdelkarim Nafti then hit the crossbar with a cute lob from the left.

Three minutes from the end of the first half, Cini performed a good save at point blank on Gianmarco Piccioni’s close-range effort.

Ryan Fenech doubled the score for the Citizens three minutes in the second half when he advanced upfield hitting low past Omar Borg.

Valletta scored the third goal on the 50th thanks to Edmond Agius who beat Omar Borg from close range.

Following a corner from the left, Roderick Briffa headed the ball home past the Mosta goalkeeper four minutes later to increase the lead further.

Denni Rocha dos Santos made it 5-0 on 67 minutes with a diagonal shot from the right which beat Borg.

Seven minutes later, substitute Llywelyn Cremona released Denni on the right and the latter’s fine rising shot gave Omar Borg no chance.

MOSTA Omar Borg, Kane Farrugia, Tyrone Farrugia, Mark Brincat, Ishmael Grech (63′ Bryan Agius), Manolito Micallef, Nicola Cosentini (78′ Sorin Virgil Oproiescu), Francesco Calcagno (53′ Ryan Grech), Ricardo Silva Faria, Haruna Bara, Gianmarco Piccioni.
Subs not used: Kurt Rizzo, Kurt Zammit, Alex Cini, James Brincat.
Coach: Danilo Doncic.

VALLETTA Yenz Cini, Jonathan Caruana, Steve Borg, Ryan Fenech (72′ Llywelyn Cremona), Edmond Agius, Roderick Briffa (60′ Shaun Bajada), Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza (60′ Ian Zammit), Raimi Bakare, Denni Rocha dos Santos, Abdelkarim Nafti, Luke Dimech.
Subs not used: Manuel Bartolo, Kurt Magro, Isaac McCarthy, Matthew Thorne.
Coach: Clive Mizzi

Referee: Clayton Pisani
Assistant Referees: Ingmar Spiteri, Paul Apap
Additional Assistant Referees: Chris Lautier, Mario Apap
Fourth Official: Peter Abela
Yellow Cards: Nafti, Piccioni
Scorers: 12’ Jonathan Caruana, 48′ Ryan Fenech, 50′ Edmond Agius, 54′ Roderick Briffa, 67′ Denni Rocha dos Santos, 73′ Denni Rocha dos Santos
BOV Player of the Match: Ryan Fenech
Attendance: 904