Unfortunate Versity beaten by Valletta    

Valletta St Pauli        1

Versity Tal-Qroqq      0

(Half-time 0 – 0)

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Versity tal-Qroqq opened their first division campaign against the current champions Valletta St Pauli.  Versity were more than a match for Valletta who can count themselves lucky due to dubious referring decisions which assisted them in taking the three points. 

Camilleri started off with his traditional 4-5-1 formation which provides him with the right platform to combat quality teams.  The defensive unit saw Grima being partnered with Cassar, Baldacchino started on the right with Bonanno playing on the left side of defence.  The midfield was composed of Scerri, Cutajar and Williams with Bugeja on the left whilst Camilleri was deployed on the right.  C Zammit played as the solitary striker. 

Versity played well and were matching their opponents in all departments.  Valletta played some good football but they could not break down Versity who in turn had their good moves and tried to open up their opponents but they were closed down.  Play was mainly restricted to the centre of the field as both defensive units were having the upper hand on their opposing strikers.  Towards the end of the first half the Grima the Versity captain had his match cut short due to an unfortunate eye injury.  In jumping for a high ball Grima was hit with the elbow by a fellow companion and he had a cut under the eyebrow and had to abandon the field of play.  Barbara came on to replace Grima who was taken to hospital.   The first half came to end shortly afterwards.         

As the second half got underway Versity seemed a bit out of sorts and Valletta capitalized on some indecisions in defense and opened the scoring.  The goal seemed to be a wake up call for Versity and they started to play better and taking the game to their opponents carving out nice moves and good football.  In one of the attacks the Valletta defender dispossessed the Versity player but in so doing he inadvertently played the ball into the path of the Versity striker who kept his cool and scored the equalizer.  However, inexplicably the linesman signaled off side and the goal was not awarded to the amazement of all watching.  Versity continued to play well but had to be attentive for the counter attack of the Citizens who failed to double the score from two good opportunities.  The game came to an end whereby Versity were very unlucky on the day to leave empty handed but they also have to be more clinical in front of goal if they are to get points from matches. 

Formation:

D Agius             [6.5] – solid game;

B Baldacchino    [6.5] – generous;

K Bonanno         [6.5] – reliable;

D Grima            [6.0] – good till his injury;

K Cassar           [7.0] – leader;

R Zammit          [6.5] – battled well;

D Scerri             [6.5] – tenacious;

A Cutajar           [6.5] – vision;

P Bugeja           [6.5] – tormented opponents ;

A Camilleri         [6.5] – poor by his standards;

C Zammit          [6.5] – lively;

Subs:

P Barbara          [6.5.] – positional play;

Coach & technical staff:

D Camilleri        [6.5] – the team was well deployed but the team needs to be more clinical

Referees:          [5.0] – the key decisions were completely wrong.