U18 League

Punk Fathers Arena
Spectators: 174 (Terracing: 131, Seating: 40, VIP seats: 3) The mood of the audience was pleasant when Vince Gauci made the kick off which started today's match. After 3 minutes, Omiros Kanonopoulos mouthed his way into the referee's book. The tension between the Punk Fathers and the Sliema Dragons FC players grew even worse after the yellow card. After some fancy dribbling in the 5th minute, Vince Gauci managed to get in a good position for a shot. Sliema Dragons FC's supporters rose to their feet, but Vince Gauci was a bit off balance and shot the ball just wide of the left post. Marios Roussakis breathed a sigh of relief and went to take the goal kick. Punk Fathers's Argyris Giotis suffered a concussion in the 8th minute, after a hard challenge, and had to leave the field. Punk Fathers made a substitution. Themis Laganas replaced Argyris Giotis. Neil Deguara hit a great freekick 9 minutes into the match. John Balzan was in the perfect position, and the defense had done a good job marking him, but Dimitris Papazisis showcased his skills and made a perfect shot to score 1-0 in the 10 minute of play. Neil Deguara hit a great freekick 14 minutes into the match. After a rather tough play, Sliema Dragons FC's Neil Deguara got a free kick in the 16th minute. An unexpectedly hard shot by Dimitris Papazisis in the 18th minute of play forced Sliema Dragons FC's goalkeeper John Balzan to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. A collision led to Punk Fathers getting a freekick after 20 minutes play. Paschalis Karipidis hit a great ball. Dimitris Papazisis fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 22nd minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without John Balzan having to interfere. After 25 minutes of play, Sliema Dragons FC's Patrick Buttigieg made it 2-1 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Marios Roussakis was left in no man's land by his defense there! An unexpectedly hard shot by Dimitris Papazisis in the 28th minute of play forced Sliema Dragons FC's goalkeeper John Balzan to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. After a rather tough play, Sliema Dragons FC's Christian Scalpello got a free kick in the 37th minute. When Konstantinos Kaikas fell near the penalty area in the 40th minute he thought he would be awarded a free kick. The referee ignored Punk Fathers's protests and gave Konstantinos Kaikas a yellow card for diving instead. After a rather tough play, Punk Fathers's Konstantinos Kaikas got a free kick in the 40th minute. 41 minutes into the match, Sliema Dragons FC's Fabian Borg broke free and took a long shot that unfortunately flew wide. A fine initiative that could have resulted in a goal. Patrick Buttigieg kicked well hit freekick during the 44th minute of the match. Lakis Mexis was really disappointed when he shot the ball just outside the right post instead of scoring a goal in the 45th minute. Punk Fathers's manager could be seen on the sidelines shaking his head and muttering to himself as his team had just wasted another chance. Lakis Mexis kicked well hit freekick during the 46th minute of the match. No-one was surprised that the home team were leading 2-1 at half-time.

The wind increased when Dimitris Papazisis made the kick off in the second half. Themis Laganas hit a great freekick 51 minutes into the match. After 52 played minutes Sliema Dragons FC got a freekick which was hit by Arthur Facciol. The supporters of Sliema Dragons FC booed when Punk Fathers was adjudged a doubtful freekick after 60 match minutes in a wonderful position. Fotis Barovios didn't get a good kick on the ball. After a rather tough play, Sliema Dragons FC's Christian Scalpello got a free kick in the 62nd minute. Lakis Mexis sent away a hard shot on goal in the 70th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. John Balzan took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Dimitris Papazisis, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Themis Laganas sent away a hard shot on goal in the 73rd minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. In the 78th match minute, Punk Fathers was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Konstantinos Kaikas to maneuver through the defense. If Themis Laganas had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 80th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. Themis Laganas kicked well hit freekick during the 83rd minute of the match. In the 87th minute, Dimitris Papazisis got an opportunity to score, but he didn't get a solid hit on the ball and ended up kicking it wide of the goal. Robert Pullicino's late challenge caught a Punk Fathers's player on the shin and left him crawling around in pain. The referee blew his whistle and produced the yellow card. Robert Pullicino helped the player get up and apologised. In the 89th minute, Robert Pullicino hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. John Balzan showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Lakis Mexis, who was totally free with the ball in the 91st minute. Punk Fathers were really happy, having secured the victory after a very even contest. They thanked the players of Sliema Dragons FC for a fine match.