Sirens beat ten-man Hibernians to move third

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Sirens leapfrogged Hibernians into third place as they scored twice in the second half to register a 2-0 win at the National Stadium on Sunday.

The St. Paul’s Bay side are now third on 31 points, one point behind Valletta and three behind leaders Floriana.

For the Paolites, this was the first defeat after a fine run of eight positive results. They now lie in fourth place, one point behind Sirens.

Imanol Iriberri went close to putting the Paolites ahead on the 4th minute but David Cassar blocked his attempt on the goal line.

The main turning point, however, occurred on the 28th minute when Hibernians were reduced to ten men after Joseph Mbong received a second yellow card for a late tackle. 

Sirens managed to break the deadlock thirteen minutes in the second half when off a cross by Thiago Espindola de Paula from the left, Wellington de Oliveira headed the ball home past goalkeeper Marko Jovicic.

On the 73rd minute, Sirens doubled the score when Ricardo Silva Faria advanced on the left and exchanged the ball with Sergio Raphael dos Anjos before slotting the ball past the Hibernians custodian.

HIBS Marko Jovicic, Ferdinando Apap, Jens Wemmer, Essien Mbong, Jake Grech, Jurgen Degabriele (79′ Simone Mancini), Bjorn Kristensen (67′ Jorge Santos Silva), Dunstan Vella, Gabriel Izquier Artiges, Andrei Agius, Imanol Iriberri.
Subs not used: Matthew Calleja Cremona, Timothy Tabone Desira, Marcio Leandro da Silveira, Ayrton Attard.
Coach: Stefano Sanderra
Asst. Coach: Ryan Pulis

SIRENS David Cassar, Ryan Grech, Wellington de Oliveira, Sergio Raphael dos Anjos, Emmanuel Okoye, Ricardo Silva Faria, Adrian Borg, Abdullahi Ige Adeshina, Romeu Pericles Romao, Thiago Espindola de Paula, Flavio Silva Cheveresan.
Subs not used: Miguel Montfort, Luke Grech, Matthias Saliba, Daniel Sant, Luke Sciberras, Larken Friggieri.
Coach: Stephen D’Amato
Asst. Coach: Terence Formosa

Referee: Malcolm Spiteri
Assistant Referees: Edward Spiteri, Jurgen Spiteri
Fourth Official: Fyodor Zammit
Yellow Cards: Wemmer, Mbong, Romao, Kristensen
Red Cards: 28’ Mbong
BOV Player of the Match: Wellington de Oliveira
Attendance: 6,073