Narrow wins for Valletta, Hibernians

Hibernians registered their second win in the BOV Premier League as a goal by Jurgen Degabriele handed them a narrow win over Hamrun Spartans at the Victor Tedesco Stadium on Friday.

For Hamrun, this was the first defeat following a fine win in their first outing last week.

Goalkeeper Steve Sultana made his debut for the Spartans, replacing Jake Galea while Karl Micallef and Triston Caruana replaced Philip Chircop and Dale Camilleri from the last game. Hibernians, on the other hand, had one change as Martin Kreuzriegler replaced Joseph Mbong.

Hibernians scored the all-important goal twelve minutes in the second half as Jackson Lima sent Jurgen Degabriele through and the latter beat Steve Sultana with a rising shot from the right.

HAMRUN Steve Sultana, Karl Micallef (78′ Dale Camilleri), Daniel Zerafa, Terence Agius (62′ Pedro Henrique Cortes Oliveira Gois), Triston Caruana (78′ Julian Galea, Tiago Souza da Silveira, Guilherme Felipe de Castro, Thiago Espindola de Paula, Arthur Faria Machado, Valerio Gomes dos Santos, Francisco Manoel Marino Clavero.
Subs not used: Jake Galea, Philip Chircop, Jeremy Busuttil, Bradley Schembri.
Coach: Jacques Scerri

HIBS Andrew Hogg, Martin Kreuzriegler, Rui da Gracia Gomes, Jackson di Lima Siqueira, Rodolfo Soares, Marcelo Dias, Jurgen Degabriele (77′ Joseph Mbong), Bjorn Kristensen, Clayton Failla (56′ Jorge Elias dos Santos), Andrei Agius, Marko Sahanek (86′ Dunstan Vella).
Subs not used: Rudy Briffa, Timothy Tabone Desira, Connor Zammit, David Xuereb.

Referee: Fyodor Zammit
Assistant Referees: Luke Portelli, William Debattista
Fourth Official: Eman Grech
Yellow Cards: Guilherme Batata, Sahanek, Tiago Indigo, Pedro Henrique
BOV Player of the Match: Bjorn Kristensen
Attendance at the Victor Tedesco Stadium: 1,086

At the Centenary Stadium, Valletta also registered their second win, defeating newly-promoted Senglea Athletic 1-0.

A first defeat for Steve D’Amato’s side after they had held Sliema in a 2-2 draw last week.

Valletta had a number of changes from the team which defeated Mosta due to the inclusion of Ryan Camilleri, Joseph Zerafa and Uchenna Umeh as Claudio Pani was suspended while Jean Borg and Denni were included as substitutes. On the other hand, Miguel Escobar replaced Hubert Vella for Senglea.

Michael Mifsud scored the all-important goal for Valletta on the 34th minute when he intelligently flicked the ball home when served by Zerafa.

Two minutes in the second half, the Citizens could have added another but Nikola Asceric hit wide from the penalty spot after he was brought down inside the area by Terracciano.

SENGLEA Timothy Aquilina, Jonathan Bondin, Ian Azzoprdi, Antonio Terracciano, Matias Garcia, Terence Vella, Miguel Escobar (46′ Peter Paul Sammut), Nicola Palmieri, Beppe Muscat (34′ Hubert Vella), Steve Bonnici, Ivan Paz (74′ Augusto Caseres).
Subs not used: Matthew Farrugia, Randall Vella, Ryan Dalli, Terence Scerri.
Coach: Steve D’Amato

VALLETTA Henry Bonello, Steve Borg, Ryan Camilleri, Juan Cruz Gill, Santiago Malano, Michael Mifsud (86′ Jean Borg), Uchenna Calistus Umeh, Joseph Zerafa, Raed Ibrahim Saleh, Romeu Pericle Romao (66′ Denni Rocha dos Santos), Nikola Asceric (77′ Kyrian Nwoko).
Subs not used: Nicky Vella, Russell Fenech, Shawn Dimech, Nicholas Pulis.
Coach: Zoran Popovic

Referee: Mario Apap
Assistant Referees: Chris Francalanza, Peter Abela
Fourth Official: Malcolm Spiteri
Yellow Cards: Gill, Garcia, Zerafa
BOV Player of the Match: Michael Mifsud