Two hundred Premier League appearances for Enrico Pepe

2023/24 BOV Premier League Match Day 25 Statistics

1 – Sean Agius made his Premier League and senior debut last Saturday with Hamrun Spartans against Floriana, entering as a late substitute instead of Bruno Eder on the stroke of full-time. The 18-year-old is a pure Spartans youth academy product who had his first registration with the club in 2018. After Kean Scicluna, Trezeguet Zammit, Kian Vella, Gabriel Mangion and Felippe Bugeja, he is the sixth Hamrun Spartans nursery player to make their senior debut this season. Gozitan Gabriel Vella made his Premiership debut against Sirens in February but already played three matches in the Gozitan 1^st Division for Oratory Youths during season 2020/21.

1 – With Valletta’s relegation confirmed after their 4-0 drubbing against Naxxar Lions last Sunday, Malta will be the only country not to have a capital club in their top division in 2024/25 out of UEFA's 55 member countries. It will be the very first time Valletta FC will play in the second tier of the Maltese football pyramid.

5 – The emphatic 5-0 victory of Hamrun over Floriana last Saturday was the largest Spartans win over the Greens in the Premier Division, therefore a modern-day record. The last time Hamrun scored five against Floriana was the 5-1 First Division victory on 10 April 1954, just over 70 years ago, as Gejtu Psaila scored a hat-trick for the Spartans, with Guzi Buttigieg and Romeo Formosa netting the other two. Tony Cauchi replied for Floriana on that memorable day. Hamrun’s largest ever victory over Floriana remains the monstrous 11-0 one, obtained during season 1913/14, the fifth meeting ever between the two giants, which was the very first victory of the Spartans over the Irish in history and also Floriana’s largest defeat ever in the top flight.

5 – Hibernians failed to beat Marsaxlokk for the fifth consecutive time during the last two seasons. The seasiders beat the Paolites 2-0 last Sunday while the reverse fixture in the 1^st round, the points where shared (1-1). There was a similar patern during the 2022/23 MPL campaign, with a 1-1 results in the 1^st round and a 3-1 Marsaxlokk victory in the 2^nd round, while Marsaxlokk beat Hibernians in the Quarter Finals of last season’s FA Trophy (1-0). Therefore, Hibernians’ last victory over Marsaxlokk remains the match played on 26 November 2011 during the first phase of 2011/12 Premier League campaign, 2-0, thanks to two Steve Pisani goals.

5 – While Floriana also conceded five goals against Hibernians on the last Match Day of last season (5-2), the 5-0 defeat against Hamrun was their largest Premier League defeat since Hibernians beat the Greens with the same score on 22 November 2014, nearly ten years ago. On that day, there were two goals by Brazilian striker Jorginho, while the other three were scored by Tarabai, Andrew Cohen and Clayton Failla. For the record, Birkirkara also managed to score five against Floriana, which was in an MPL game played on 22 December 2020 (5-2).

6 – The 6-0 defeat of Gudja United against Sliema Wanderers was the largest defeat for the Gudjans in their five-year Premier League period. During their very first season amongst the elite, 2019/20, Gzira United managed to beat Gudja 6-1 (26.10.2019), which was their worst result in the top flight before last weekend.

6 – We need to go back to season 2015/16 to record six goals for the Wanderers in the Premier League. On 20 December 2015, Sliema beat Qormi 6-3 and on 10 January 2016, the match day after, the Blues managed to defeat St Andrews with a 6-1 final score. It was Sliema’s largest Premier League win since their 6-0 victory over Mosta at the start of season 2005/06. On that day, 21 August 2005, Danilo Doncic scored a hat-trick with the other goals coming from Stefan Giglio, Ivan Woods and Danijel Bogdanovic.

10 – By beating second-placed Floriana, Hamrun’s gap at the top of the table towards their main competitors became four points, which means with one match spare, the Spartans have prolonged their Championship title with another year. It is the 10th time Hamrun Spartans became champions of Malta and they are the fifth club after Sliema Wanderers, Floriana, Valletta and Hibernians to have won the national Championship at least 10 times.

15 – Floriana will end the campaign in the runners-up spot, their 15^th in the top flight. Apart from 26 titles, equal with Floriana, Sliema Wanderers managed to finish as runners-up on no less than 31 occasions, far above the rest. In fact, Valletta is second in that ranking with 16 runners-up spots ever since their 1943 amalgamation. Floriana is now one ahead of Hibernians (14 runners-up spots), while Hamrun ended second in the national league on ten occasions, one ahead of Birkirkara.

44 – Seth Paintsil’s four goals for Hamrun Spartans against Floriana last Saturday was the 44^th ‘poker’ scored eversince the introduction of the Premier League in Malta in 1980. It was the second poker this season as teammate and MPL Top Scorer Luke Montebello also scored four goals, in the 7-1 Hamrun victory over Balzan on 27 January this year. The 44 pokers were scored by 32 players, with Valletta’s Gilbert Agius being the only one to have scored 3 pokers during his career. These were scored against St Patrick (3/2/1996, 8-0), Rabat Ajax (2/10/1999, 9-0) and against Pieta’ Hotspurs (10/12/2006, 6-0).

60 – Hamrun added another five goals to their tally this campaign and have now scored 60 goals. The Malta champions of the past six seasons failed to score this many goals, for various reasons including two abandoned seasons due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Hibernians still hold the record with 97 goals scored during their 2014/15 Championship winning campaign.

200 – Enrico Pepe’s appearance against Sirens last Sunday (2-2) was his 200^th in the Maltese Premier League. The Birkirkara centre-back was introduced in Malta by Floriana in 2015, where he played for three consecutive seasons and appeared in 78 MPL games. Pepe joined Hamrun Spartans for season 2018/19 (26 MPL games) before signing for Birkirkara in 2019, where he is now in his fifth consecutive season, making 96 MPL appearances. Pepe, who hails from Vico Equense in the Gulf of Naples, already made 130 appearances in the Italian Serie B, C and D before coming to Malta, donning the jerseys of Campobasso, Salernitana, Cassino, Siracusa, Paganese and Messina. On 6 September 2020, Pepe made his debut for Malta in the 1-1 draw with Latvia at Ta’ Qali in the UEFA Nations League, collecting 24 caps for the national team so far. The 34-year-old played 384 official domestic and international matches in his career so far, including 20 FA Trophy and 2 Super Cup games, while the robust defender also made 8 appearances in the various European Cup competitions.

Images copyright Warren Zerafa