Versity Tal-Qroqq vs. Tarxien AFC

Date: 13^th September 2008

Venue: San Gwann

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All square in first seasonal outing

Versity Tal-Qroqq      2

Tarxien                   2

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Sponsors:

Kasco – Suppliers of all types of printing material

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The dawn of the new season is around the corner and to this effect a friendly was organised to assess tactical points and player’s fitness amongst other elements. The current year sees Versity playing in the Swan league which also brings about a change of pitch from hard ground to a synthetic surface. The match was also organised on the pitch in which a weeks time will see Versity make their league debut.

Versity’s coach Camilleri had a number of players at his disposal although others were also missing notably C Zammit, J Ellul Soler, I Calleja, K Bonanno and their new recruit J Sciberras. This year Versity lost the services of E Sciberras who opted to return with his homeclub Mqabba AFC. Camilleri started with a 4-4-2 formation

Versity seemed to settle well into the match and got the upper hand in the early stages. Agius (who lost a number of kilos and was pretty agile) guarded the posts. The back four were composed of Salerno and Buttigieg on the flanks with Ferrante and the newly arrived player A Borg as centre half. In midfield the central duo was made up of Cutajar and Schembri with Williams on the left and Azzopardi on the right flank. The attacking tandem was made up of Mifsud and Zammit. Around the quarter mark Versity forged ahead when a well threaded ball was well controlled by Mifsud who shot well to open his season’s account and continue from where he left off the previous season. Few moments later the lead could have been doubled but the shot by Williams hit the upright. Tarxien started getting more into the fray as time elapsed and a loss of possession by the Ferrante who had an unusually below par performance allowed Tarxien to get into shooting distance but to the relief of Veristy the shot hit the bar. Camilleri changed Cutajar with Muscat since he seemed to have a muscular problem. The first half drew to a close but although Versity were leading their football was not that fluid and lacked cohesion.     

As expected the second half saw a number of changes by Camilleri. Off went Salerno, Borg, Schembri and Zammit and in came Caruana, Grima, Bugeja and Bonnici. The set-up was not altered much and only saw some players changing roles. As the second half got underway Tarxien seemed better organized and Versity failed to find a rhythm. Versity’s departments seemed were not functioning well as a whole unit and this allowed the opponents to find space and create problems. To make matters worse Versity were making a number of mistakes in their passing and were losing the ball cheaply. Chief culprit was Ferrante who had an off-day. After around 10mins Tarxien leveled the scores and they broke free in the middle and after exchanging passes the attacker who might have been in a slight offside position got the better of Ferrante and scored the equalizer. Versity continued to be jittery in their play and a few minutes later gifted another opportunity to Tarxien. This time round the attacker was ruled offside. However, Tarxien forged ahead when Ferrante tried to play the ball out from defence but he made a mess of the situation and lost possession allowing the striker a run on goal and the attacker did not fail. Versity regrouped to try and get back into the match and managed to carve out some openings but their play still lacked fluidity. However, they pressed hard and found the equalizing goal when from a cross from the right Williams managed to anticipate his marker and head the ball home. 

The match finished all square. Versity still have work to do to get their systems well coordinated. The team has to adapt to the new ground and see that the players function well as a unit. The problems need to be tackled quickly by Camilleri and find the right balance even in wake of certain players who are injured or missing otherwise Versity could be heading for an opening defeat in their first league match.  

Formation:

D Agius [6.0] – satisfactory;

M Salerno [6.0] – ;

S Ferrante [4.0] – very poor;

A Borg [6.0] – fitted well;

C Buttigieg [6.5] – worked hard;

A Cutajar [5.5] – little time;

R Azzopardi [6.0] – satisfactory debut;

C Williams [7.5] – very effective;

R Schembri [5.5] – tried;

R Zammit [6.5] – dependable;

A Mifsud [7.0] – generous;

Subs:

M Muscat [5.0] – lacked cohesion;

D Caruana [6.0] – solid;

P Bugeja [6.0] – okay;

D Grima [5.5] – could be better;

K Bonnici [6.0] – fought hard;

Coach & technical staff:

D Camilleri [6.5] – friendly gives him food for thought;

Scorers:

A Mifsud & C Williams;

Versity Player of the match: Charles Williams – he played on the flank and was a constant menace throughout the match.