FA Trophy | Pietà Hotspurs 1 – Gzira United 1

The first match at the Hibernians stadium saw the teams of Pietà and Gzira fighting for a place in the quarter finals of the FA Trophy. Both sides came into this match looking to turn their form around.

Pieta` are struggling in the league and find themselves at the bottom of the table together with Qormi. However, they made it through to the quarter-finals after beating Zejtun Corinthians.

On the other hand, the Maroons only managed one win out of the last seven matches and find themselves third. They are currently 8 points behind leaders Hibernians. They made it to this stage of the FA Trophy after securing a win over Melita.

The Hotspurs created the first chance of the match after 20 minutes. Paul Chimezie fired a shot from distance that was neutralised by Justin Haber.

Gzira hit back and broke the deadlock on the 29th minute. Justin Mengolo played a through ball towards Andrew Cohen who drilled a low shot past Nicholas Vella.

Jesmond Zerafa’s side threatened Pietà again seconds later. From a free-kick, Juan Corbalan saw his effort going over.

Chimezie tried his luck for Pieta` again on the 40th minute, but failed to hit the target.

Pieta` were unlucky not to equalise on the brink of half time. Following a mistake by Justin Haber, the ball went into the path of Chimezie whose shot from inside the penalty area was cleared by a defender.

Ramon Zammit's men made a bright start to the second half as they equalised on the 48th minute. Jan Tanti’s free-kick caused a chaos inside Gzira’s penalty area as Haber was uncertain again and the ball rolled inside the net.

Vella was on the alert to deny Gzira on the 71st minute. Corbalan’s delivery went into the path of Garba whose close range effort was pushed away by the 29 year old goalkeeper.

On the other end, it was Haber who saved Gzira as the veteran goalkeeper saved Chimezie’s effort from point blank range.

During the latter part of the match, a hail storm took place that left the referee with no other option but to abandon the match two minutes from time.

Following this decision, the match will continue on a different date as both sides await a decision from the MFA.

 Pieta` Hotspurs starting line-up: Nicholas Vella, Paul Chimezie, Jan Busuttil, Nicholas Pisani, Gabriel Mensah, Juan Manuel Artiaga, Christian Grech, Stefan Radovanovic, Umeh Uchenna Calistus, Ishaya Irmiya Jalo, Antonio Macedo

Gzira United starting line-up: Justin Haber, Zachary Scerri, Rodolfo Soares, Andrew Cohen, Juan Carlos Corbalan, Clifford Gatt Baldacchino, Edison Bilbao Zarate, Gianmarco Conti, Sacha Borg, Justin Mengolo, Haruna Garba

Referee: Emanuel Grech

Assistant Referees: Jurgen Spiteri, Paul Apap

Fourth Official: Ishmael Barbara