Sirens return to winning ways

Sirens bounced back from last week’s heavy defeat to Hamrun Spartans as they defeated Santa Lucia 3-1 in a clash between two newly-promoted sides at the Centenary Stadium on Saturday.

Steve D’Amato’s side moves third, one point behind joint-leaders Floriana and Hamrun Spartans. On the other hand, Santa Lucia suffer their first defeat after two wins and two draws from the first four matches. They share fourth place with Valletta on the 8-point mark.

Sirens went close on the 7th minute with a Romeu Romao freekick which was turned into a corner in style by goalkeeper Ryan Caruana. 

However three minutes later, the St. Paul’s Bay side took the lead when off a Thiago Espindola de Paula corner from the right, Abdullahi Ice Adeshina headed home from close range.

Santa Lucia equalised on the half hour thanks to Luis Diego Mosquera Segura who slotted the ball past goalkeeper David Cassar with a powerful shot from inside the area.

However, six minutes in the second half, Sirens regained the lead thanks to Abdullahi Ige Adeshina who received a throw in from the right and with a low shot from inside the area, he managed to beat the Santa Lucia goalkeeper.

Wellington de Oliveira went close to increasing the lead on the 75th but his diagonal shot from the left was turned into a corner by Caruana. 

However on the 78th, Wellington de Oliveira was not to be denied when he received a pass just outside the area and with a well-placed shot, he beat the Santa Lucia goalkeeper to put Sirens 3-1 ahead.

SIRENS David Cassar, Ryan Grech, Wellington de Oliveira, Sergio Raphael dos Anjos Raphael, Emmanuel Okoye, Romario Lucas Menezes, Adrian Borg, Abdullahi Ige Adeshina (90+2′ Luke Sciberras), Flavio Cheveresan, Romeu Pericles Romao, Thiago Espindola de Paula.
Subs not used: Miguel Montfort, Jacques Muscat, Mustafa Elanadar, Daniel Sant, Siraj Arab Eddin, Russell Fenech.
Coach: Steve D’Amato
Asst. Coach: Eamon Bugeja

SANTA LUCIA Ryan Caruana, Gabriel Bohrer Mentz, Jackson David Usuga Mendoza, Jamie Magri Overend, Diego Luis Mosquera Segura, Kevin Ante Rosero, Jacob Walker, Farid Zuniga, Jamie Zerafa (64′ Omar Elouni), Camilo Escobar, Rei Tachikawa (82′ Daniel Agius).
Subs not used: Dorian Bugeja, Adam Magri Overend, Neil Micallef, Lee Galea, Nick Borg.
Coach: Oliver Spiteri
Asst. Coach: Brian Chetcuti

Referee: Alex Johnson
Assistant Referees: Paul Apap, Ivan Galea
Fourth Official: Alan Mario Sant
Yellow Cards: Grech, Walker, Cheveresan, Borg, Zuniga
BOV Player of the Match: Abdullahi Ige Adeshina

Attendance: 688