Zurrieq winners of 2012/22 Amateur League, Mtarfa in Final of Promotion Play-Offs

NAL CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY-OFF

Zurrieq 2 Attard 1

Zurrieq crowned their wonderful 2021/22 season by winning the Amateur League title in the championship decider last Sunday afternoon, defeating Group A winners Attard by the odd goal in three. For the team of George Magri, who won a strong Group B league by leaving Marsaskala, also promoted, Zabbar St Patrick and Mtarfa behind them, it was a great climax of a two year (and ongoing) project, which brings the former giants of Maltese football in the 1980s back into the second tier of the Maltese football pyramid.

In front of a sizeable crowd, Zurrieq displayed some exciting football and fully deserved their victory, being the better team throughout the whole ninety minutes. Attard, who were still unbeaten this season, somewhat disappointed in this final match as they were rarely creative in attack and looked at odds in defence, especially in set pieces. It was therefore no surprise that both Zurrieq’s goals arrived with headers from corner actions.

Zurrieq were the better team in the first half, creating several scoring opportunities but they failed to take advantage. Against the run of play, Attard took the lead on 21 minutes when Nigel Spiteri scored direct from a freekick. Zurrieq obtained a deserved equaliser ten minutes later when Adrian Caruana headed home direct from a corner kick action. Attard had great difficulty on set pieces especially on corner kicks and just before the break, an Andre-Joe Cutajar shot was blocked on the goal line. In the second half Zurrieq continued to attack and were rewarded on 92 minutes when Ivan Bojovic headed home from a corner action.

NAL PROMOTION PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL

Zabbar St Patrick 2 Mtarfa 3
Like Rabat Ajax and Kirkop United last season, Mtarfa are proving to be the biggest surprise in this season’s NAL Promotion Play-Offs. Yesterday evening at the Centenary Stadium, the team of Manuel Caruana continued their smart, fresh and attacking football this season by upsetting Zabbar St Patrick, beating the promotion favourites by the odd goal in five. The young club have three days to prepare for the biggest match in their young history, the Promotion Play-Off final against Gharghur on Saturday.

Their victory was a deserved one as they shared the exchanges with Zabbar in the first half, emerging winners in the second, in where they created several goal scoring opportunities. The whole team needs praise, but we can easily single out the excellent work rate of Venezuelan livewire Nestor Canas, midfielder Kurt Zammit who also played a blinder, Alejandro Brincat up front and the defensive line with the elegant and effective Diego Agius never putting a foot wrong in the heart of the defence.

Mtarfa, playing against the strong wind in the first half, were the first ones to come close to score as Matthew Camilleri missed a sitter after only three minutes play, his close-range shot being blocked by Jonathan Grech. Zabbar took the lead in the 10th minute when Kenneth Aquilina was the quickest to kick the ball behind Clive Caruana after the Mtarfa rear-guard failed to clear the ball in their own box. Zabbar certainly tried to extent their lead, but were countless times caught on the wrong foot by Mtarfa's outstanding trio Canas, Zammit and Brincat. On 26 minutes, Canas was sent through on the right flank, crossing to Brincat who hesitated too long with his goal attempt, with Grech turning his effort into a corner. For Zabbar, further attempts by Isaac Abela and Aquilina both missed target. Five minutes before the break, Mtarfa equalised thanks to a great free-kick by Zammit, who surprised Grech with an accurate grounder.

The Northerners took full advantage of the wind after the break, taking the lead and extending it with a third goal, while they could have easily added a few more in the first 25 minutes. They took the lead on 54 minutes, again thanks to a Kurt Zammit strike, beating Grech for a second time with an accurate shot. Just after the hour, Zabbar were shellshocked when Brincat added Mtarfa’s third from close-range, after some excellent work by Canas on the left flank, much to the joy of the numerous Mtarfa supporters who braved the cold gale winds to support their team. Barely a minute later, Brincat could have added Mtarfa’s fourth but was denied by Grech in extremis. On 79 minutes, substitute Gianluca Zammit missed a sitter in front of the Mtarfa goal but his attempt missed direction, a rare opportunity for Zabbar in the second half to get back into the game. With two minutes regular time left to play and Grech far out of his goal, substitute Jean-Paul Formosa lobbed his attempt against the woodwork. Two minutes into stoppage time, Aquilina kicked back some belief with Zabbar when he beat Caruana from close-range but it was too little too late for Zabbar, who started the season as the team to beat in the Amateur League but, with several ex-Premier Division players in their ranks, turned out to be the biggest disappointment. They have one match left this season, which is the Amateur Cup Final against neighbours Marsaskala on Sunday 24 April.

NAL PROMOTION PLAY-OFFS 2nd ROUND

Zabbar St Patrick 3 Kalkara United 1

Kalkara’s dream to play second tier football in Malta for the very first time in their history was shattered by Zabbar St Patrick last Saturday, beating the Greens 3-1. Zabbar were the better team throughout the match. However, after a one-sided first half, Kalkara managed to win more possession after the break and after reducing the deficit, the match could have gone either way. However, Zabbar’s victory was a deserved one, as their individual quality made the difference, against an inexperienced Kalkara team. On 15 minutes, Zabbar opened the score thanks to a drive by David Oliveira from close-range, rounding off a fine Zabbar attack. Zabbar kept on creating attack after attack and on 36 minutes, Miguel Ciantar could have doubled for St Patrick but his shot from the edge of the box sailed high after some good work on the right flank from Kenneth Aquilina. Kalkara saw more of the ball on the resumption, but initially without creating much danger. Just after the hour, Zabbar doubled thanks to a goal by substitute Isaac Abela, who tapped in from close-range after Oliveira missed a sitter in front of Jonathan Vella’s goal. But on 64 minutes, Ahmad Ayoub reduced the arrears for Kalkara after the Zabbar rear guard failed to clear the ball, volleying home from close-range. This goal brought back some moral in the Kalkara camp, who tried hard to equalise, with a header of Jean-Claud Cesare missing target on 76 minutes. However, it was Zabbar who scored a third deep into stoppage time when another substitute, Gianluca Zammit, took advantage from a defensive slip up , beating Vella with a rising shot. Zammit could have added a fourth a minute later, but this time found Vella on his way.

Birzebbuga St Peter’s 1 Mtarfa 3

In the second match at the Sirens Stadium last Saturday afternoon, Mtarfa continued their wonderful season by beating Birzebbuga St Peter’s 3-1. It was another deserved win for Manuel Caruana’s team, who cma back from 1-0 down and are surprising friend and foe with their positive and attacking football this year. After Nestor Canas was close to score an early opener for Mtarfa, on the other side, Mtarfa goalkeeper Clive Caruana performed an excellent save on a close-range Alan Tabone shot on 13 minutes. Mtarfa had a slight edge over their opponents during the first half, keeping the rear-guard of the Blues on their toes with their speedy strikers Alejandro Brincat and Canas. The best chance arrived in extra time of the first half, when Brincat missed a sitter in front of an empty goal after a wonderful attack after receiving from Canas. Birzebbuga dominated the first twenty minutes of the second half and just three minutes after the break, Paul Camilleri’s team took the lead when Aaron Agius was at the right spot to round off a precise Tabone cross. However, Mtarfa turned the match around with two goals in two minutes. On 66 minutes, substitute Dylan Mifsud equalised from a precise Brincat pass and in the attack that followed, Brincat crowned his wonderful season by shooting Mtarfa into the lead. Birzebbuga threw all on attack but with 15 minutes regular time left, Brincat beat the offside trap and lobbed handsomely over Ristan Schembri, who was positioned too far in front of his goal. Not much later, the same Brincat could have added a fourth but his drilled his effort high over the crossbar from an ideal position. An on target piledriver by substitute Shaun Galea on 81 minutes was turned into a corner by Caruana. On the stroke of full-time, St Peter’s defender Stefan Micallef was sent off with a straight red card for denying Canas an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

Images by Stephen Gatt & Walter Sargent