Rabat and Sliema Lead At End of First Round
The first round of the Blue Label National League came to an end on Sunday and Rabat Depiro and Sliema Hs have extended their lead at the top of the table after victories against The Hunters Tower Rest.YS and Poiatti Qormi respectively. There will be no National League matches this weekend but when the competition resumes on the 12th February the two top sides will be facing off against each other.
Sliema continued their (rather surprising) good start to the season while Qormi succumbed to their third consecutive defeat. The game was a balanced affair although Sliema had the better of the first half and should have taken a lead by half time. In fact after the best chance of the half fell their way after barely 13 minutes when Simon Baldacchino was put through on goal but was fouled. From the resultant stroke Liam Pace, Sliema �s hero against Young Stars, flicked well and truly wide of Chircop�s goal. Qormi responded with a short corner from Frank Bugeja that was handled well by Mallia in the Sliema goal. Chircop then denied Pace, and the Qormi goalkeeper was on hand to block two further attempts by the Sliema attackers following some good play from Ray Bezzina. The final chance of the half fell to Sliema�s Pace, who skied his shot from just inside the dee.
The second half got of to a slow start but after barely nine minutes Sliema scored the decisive goal. From a short corner move Imbroll was allowed a couple of dribbles and then flicked past Chircop. The game remained balanced as both sides tended to block each other out even though Qormi started to press even more forward as time passed. Scoring chances remained scare with Imbroll once again going close for Sliema and Housley almost getting a late equalizer for his side.
The second game of the day brought the first round to an end and saw Rabat pick up three important points. They were in good form on Sunday and dominated the early stages of the game. Three successive short corners failed to produce a result and on 15 minutes the Young Stars defence blocked Jason Vella, as he was about to set up his teammates. Young Stars operated on the counter with Dalli, Magro and Agius Darmanin working hard to set up Bonello. After one such attack resulted in a short corner, Mark Camilleri�s flick went wide. In the 27 minute Rabat drew first blood when from another short corner Shawn Falzon placed his hit beyond Abdilla�s reach. A short corner at the other end saw Azzopardi, the Rabat goalkeeper, save well.
Rabat were quick off the mark in the second half, with Micallef and Seychell failing to convert good opportunities and as time began to pass Young Stars began to increase the pressure in search of the equalizer. However they came undone in the space of four minutes, between the 23rd and 27th minutes as Josef Antonelli got on the score sheet with a double. First he concluded a good move between Falzon and Seychell and then did it all by himself as he found a way past the Young Stars defence to slot the ball home. Young Stars got their consolation goal two minutes from time when Mark Camilleri flicked in following a short corner move.
Henry Cachia / Ian Crockford
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