Gzira United held in a draw by Sliema

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Gzira United dropped another two important points as they were held in a 1-1 draw by neighbours Sliema Wanderers at the National Stadium on Sunday,

This was the third consecutive draw for the Maroons and the sixth draw in eight matches.

For Sliema Wanderers, this draw puts them in sixth place, on level points with Balzan.

The Wanderers, with Ivan Woods as their new coach, had five changes from the previous league game against Floriana as Timothy Aquilina was preferred to Jake Galea in goal while Jonathan Pearson, Frank Temile, Kilian Amehi and new signing Ignacio Varela replaced Stefan Cassar, Claudio Pani, the injured Goran Adamovic and Jefferson de Assis who joined Nadur.

Following the draw with Hamrun, coach Darren Abdilla replaced Zachary Scerri and the injured Juan Corbalan with Nikolai Muscat and Edison Bilbao Zarate.

The Wanderers managed to take the lead on the 27th minute when they were awarded a penalty after Kilian Amehi was brought down inside the area. From the penalty spot, Younes Marzouk converted.

Gzira, however, levelled matters two minutes from the end of the first half thanks to a blunder by goalkeeper Timothy Aquilina who failed to hold a shot from outside the area by Edison Bilbao Zarate.

GZIRA Justin Haber, Nikolai Muscat, Rodolfo Soares, Andrew Cohen (68′ Sofian Domoraud), Edison Bilbao Zarate, Roderick Briffa, Gianmarco Conti (85′ Zachary Scerri), Sacha Borg (46′ Myles Beerman), Justin Mengolo, Fernando Barbosa Pereira, Haruna Garba Zambuk.
Subs not used: Anthony Curmi, Mood Lamlum, Clifford Gatt Baldacchino, Jaron Schembri.
Coach: Darren Abdilla

SLIEMA Timothy Aquilina, Matias Muchardi, Kurt Shaw, Jonathan Pearson, Mark Scerri, Ignacio Varela (68′ Carlos Eduardo Alba Olivares), Frank Temile, Michele Sansone (82′ John Mintoff), Kilian Amehi (55′ Ryan Fenech), Stefano Bianciardi, Younes Marzouk.
Subs not used: Jake Galea, Alex Muscat, Peter Xuereb, Stefan Cassar.
Coach: Ivan Woods

Referee: Mario Apap
Assistant Referees: Christopher Francalanza, Mitchell Scerri
Fourth Official: Ishmael Barbara
Yellow Cards: Borg, Scerri, Domoraud
BOV Player of the Match: Haruna Garba