League Match 4

Nadur Youngsters - 0 vs Victoria Hotspurs - 3

- by Jake Meilak

After the brilliant show that the Youngsters offered in the game against Ghajnsielem FC, the Whites are now suffering their first defeat for this season when they were beaten by Victoria Hotspurs with a final score of 3-0. The Red s tactic of playing the tough game seemed to fulfill its duty perfectly  leaving the Whites with no possibility of preventing such a defeat. From the early minutes of the match the Reds were the dominating team in the ground and managed to maintain this advantage on Nadur through out the whole game. Although Nadur strived critically to recover they did not manage to achieve what they had in mind mainly because of the agressive play of the Reds. It is also of essential importance to mention the absence of Josef Buttigieg since he was out for suspension.

From the very begining the Reds took command of the match and started putting pressure on the Whites. Evidence of this was the early goal on the 9 th minute by Victoria when a distant shot by Daniel Farrugia was blocked with difficulty by the defence but the unmarked player Nkwankwo managed to go for the lost ball and had no difficulty in beating the keeper from a close range. Nadur replied suddenly after with the shot of Anthony Portelli being saved by the keeper of Victoria. The Reds continous attacks were of great danger for Nadur and eventually at the 19 th minute Grech had good chances of scorring when his distant shot nearly missed the vertical pole.  During this match both sides have done crutial mistakes that could have benn easilly transformed into goals. A cristal clear example is that of the 26th minute when Victoria were given a penalty after Peter Paul Buttigieg fouled Jesmond Xerri in the small box but Enkwankwo s shot from the spot ended far off post. After few minutes Nadur were again in danger after Buttigieg cleared off the line with the goal keeper already beaten. On the 35 th minute the Whites good chance of scorring was desmenteled down by Victoria keeper after performing a partial save on Kyle Russel s shot and turning it into a corner. Victoria continued their stuggle and only five minutes later the Reds striker Grech hits the pole from an ideal position with a low shot. Minutes later Steve Sultana made a billiant save on Enkwankwo s shot turning it into a corner. Minutes from the end of the first half  Nadur s attacker Portelli failed to nett the ball, after a mistake of the defence of the  Reds ,allowing the keeper enough time to recover for the mistake when he concluded weakly. After the break, the Reds returned more motivated then ever. In fact they managed again to open the score at 51 minutes of play  with Enkwankwo s brilliant cross ending in the area of Anyanwu and eventually beating the keeper with a low but presize shot. A similar action took place at exactly 60 minutes of play with Anyanwu increasing the lead for the Reds after he managed to net the ball with a low shot. Steve Sultana performed another brilliant save on a close range header by Farrugia. Three minutes later Nadur had good chances to reduce the gap when Portelli hit the crossbar by a header. Victoria continued imprisoning the Youngsters till the final moments of the game with the Reds failing to increase the score just 5 minutes away from the end, when Borg failed a close range shot. In my opinion the Whites should not take this match simply as a defeat but as an experience from which one can learn and grow stronger.

Sunday, 25th October, 2009, at 14:00 pm
Referee: Kevin Azzopardi
Scorers: Eric Nkwankwo 9', Uchenna Anyanwu 51', 60' (VH)
Yellow Cards: Peter Buttigieg (N), Alex Tramboo (VH).
Nadur Formation: Steve Sultana, Peter Buttigieg, Jeffery Meilak, (Mario Portelli) Saviour Attard, Charles Mercieca, Charles Hili, Alex Simoncic, Paul Camilleri, Kyle Russell, Anthony Portelli (Gary Hili), Claudio Antunes