FA Trophy – Valletta 1 San Gwann 0
14/12/2016
Umeh Calistus scored the only goal of a drab encounter as Valletta crawled into the fourth round of the FA Trophy after a narrow win over San Gwann.
On paper, Valletta were miles head of the Saints but the Division Two side gave a very good account of themselves to keep their glamorous opponents at bay for long spells to go down fighting.
Valletta took a while to settle but managed to take the lead five minutes from half-time.
Latching on to Leandro Aguirre’s cross from the left, Umeh Calistus sped into the box from right and hammered past Justin Spiteri, the San Gwann goalkeeper.
Before Valletta’s opener, San Gwann had also threatened as Nigerian Abeeb Aboidun Williams ran past Juan Cruz Gill on the left but his rising effort was pushed away by Dziugas Bartkus.
Early in the second half, Calistus shot against the side-netting from Malano’s left-wing cross.
San Gwann were alive and kicking. Nezar Fawzi Abouhaisa, profiting from their opponents’ slack defending, had a close-range effort that Bartkus just managed to push the ball onto the far post. Amid the resulting scramble, Williams was first to the ball but his shot was cleared.
At the other end, Suda’s angled grounder was pushed away by Spiteri.
Source – Times of Malta
VALLETTA – D. Barktus, R. Romao, L. Aguirre, J. Cruz Gill, C. Pani, S. Malano (N. Pulis), U. Calistus, R. Camilleri, J. Borg (L. Cremona), L. Montebello, J. Suda (R. Fenech).
SAN GWANN – J. Spiteri, J. Bugeja, R. Zammit, A. Cachia, J. Cutajar, A. Borg, N. Abouhaisa, N. Muscat, Z. Bowman, J. Tanti, A. Williams.
Date: 14.12.2016
Scorers: U. Calistus
Yellow Cards: U. Calistus
