Paola Peacocks vs. Versity Tal-Qroqq

Date: 21^st September 2008

Venue: San Gwann

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Toothless Versity lose in season opener

Paola Peacocks         1

Versity Tal-Qroqq      0

(Half-time 1 – 0)

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Sponsors:

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Versity Tal-Qroqq started their league commitments hoping for a good outing which would be rewarded by a victory. The final outcome turned out to be of a different nature mainly due to the fact that Versity failed to carve out ways to score.

Camilleri was limited in choice since certain important players were unavailable. Without taking away the commitment and hard work put in by the fielded team surely if certain players were available Camilleri could have tried to mix his cards and try something different. The start saw a 4-5-1 formation which was changed in the second half to 4-4-2.  

As the game got underway Versity seemed to be nervous with a gap being created between the defensive and midfield lines. The defense had to be on alert with Grima, Cutajar, Salerno and Buttigieg working hard to avoid conceding an early breakthrough from their opponents.  Things improved by the quarter mark but Versity’s attacking approach work lacked continuity with Muscat, Bonnici, C Zammit and R Zammit finding it hard to carve openings. In a counter attack the Paola attacker’s run was halted and from the resultant free-kick the ball somehow betrayed Cutajar who let his opponent steal a march on him and plant the ball behind the helpless Agius. With around a quarter of an hour to go Versity tried to regroup but Williams who was trying very hard to instill some form of play could do little to change things around. Mifsud found himself isolated up front and Versity had to settle for some distant shots which were either off target or caused little trouble to the Paola goaler.

The second half started off with Versity immediately going all out to get the equalizing goal. One is used seeing Versity dig deep to get back into matches. Even with a change of tactics things failed to turn to the better. Although Versity were dictating matters with Paola crowding their defense and relying on the counter attack, Versity failed to turn territorial advantage into meaningful play. The wide players weren’t managing to open the necessary width and float in dangerous crosses. In fact the closest Versity arrived at scoring was from a shot of Mifsud which was well saved by the opponent’s goalkeeper. Paola on their part had their moments on the breakaways but by and large the Versity back line dealt well with these. Camilleri tried to improve his attacking options by changing Bonnici with Azzopardi who went to play in the backline to allow Cutajar to move forward. Although this helped in certain geometric play Versity still could not find a route to goal and the last of best chances fell to Grima whose goal bound header (albeit in a crowded area) hit a fellow player. The match started to draw to its end and the writing seemed to be on the wall that Versity’s debut in Swan would leave them with no goal and an opening defeat. The final whistle brought the match to an end. Versity have them selves to blame since they were not capable to profit and use their possession to better effect The team especially when going forward have to play much better in order to secure maximum points in their next outing.

Formation:

D Agius [6] – not at fault in conceded goal;

C Buttigieg [6.5] – Worked hard;

A Cutajar [6.0] – Sloppy in goal;

D Grima [6.5] – Generous;

M Salerno [6] – Could be better;

A Mifsud [6] – Isolated;

M Muscat [5.5] – Missed a good opportunity;

C Williams [7] – Effective all round play;

R Zammit [6.5] – Fought hard;

K Bonnici [6] – at times outsmarted by opponents;

C Zammit [5.5] – Not at his best;

Subs:

R Azzopardi [6] – valid contribution;

Coach & technical staff:

D Camilleri [6.5] – was limited in his choice but tried to change things around

Versity Player of the match: Charles Williams – he tried hard but found little help from his colleagues.