- by Saviour Attard

Nadur Youngsters recovered from a two goal deficit to obtain a deserved point against Kercem at the Gozo Stadium on Sunday. The whites were trailing by two goals on the interval but fought back bravely after the restart, scoring twice through Jeffrey Meilak and a penalty by Fabiano Bassi.

Nadur were chasing shadows in the first half. Kercem were dangerous from the first stints of the match through efforts by Marco Aurelio and Leonard Camilleri and managed to open the score after 20 minutes. Milos Stojanovic crossed towards John Paul Mizzi on the left flank who controlled well and dipped in an inviting cross to the same Stojanovic who was quick to control and score. Nadur’s reply arrived a couple of minutes later through a shot by Josef Buttigieg that went high. Kercem struck again on the half-hour mark. Milos Stojanovic collected a pass by Marlon Mamo on the edge of the box and fired a low shot that gave no chance to Steve Sultana to save. The greens could have wrapped up their victory few minutes before the break when Marco Aurelio raced unmarked to the Nadur area after collecting a pass from Mizzi. The Brazilian could have passed to Leonard Camilleri who was completely unmarked but chose to turn on his right and shoot low. Sultana was brave to block his shot and kept his side’s hopes of getting something from the match alive.

The Youngsters were a completely different side in the second half.On the 58^th minute Alex Simoncic was fast to turn round the Kercem defence and place behind the goalie but as Kyle Russell touched the ball to make sure of the goal ,the linesman raised his flag and the goal was disallowed. Russell missed a Golden chance few minutes later when alone in front of goal, saw his shot saved. However Nadur kept up their pressure and managed to pull one back after 69 minutes. Saviour Attard’s header hit the post from a corner by Simoncic but the ball arrived to Jeffrey Meilak who drilled a low shot on goal. This proved to be an injection of confidence for the Nadur players .In fact the equalizer came three minutes later when Anthony Portelli was brought down in the area by Frankie Camilleri. Referee Gordon Barbara awarded a penalty which Fabiano Bassi converted to level the score. The whites continued to press to get all the three points as their opponents were completely shocked.Alex Simoncic‘s shot 15 minutes from time ended wide and five minutes later a distant shot by Charlie Hili was turned in corner by Kercem’s goalie Courtney Mercieca. Russell had another good chance but shot high with the game ending with a share of the spoils.

Nadur are now second in the table, two points behind leaders Victoria Hotspurs who overcame Sannat 2-1 in the other match of the afternoon. Ghajnsielem are up next.

Sunday, 27th December 2009 at 12:30 p.m.
Referee: Gordon BarbaraNadur Formation: Steve Sultana, Jeffery Meilaq, Mario Portelli (Kyle Russell), Saviour Attard, Alex Simoncic, Charles Mercieca, Paul Camilleri, Charles Hili, Fabiano Bassi, Anthony Portelli, Josef Buttigieg.

Photos By Joseph Mercieca  www.gozovision.com