Valletta hold off brave Ħamrun's rally

Valletta weathered a second-half fightback from Ħamrun Spartans to put their league aspirations back on track with a hard-fought victory which earned them the second spot alongside Gżira United and six points adrift of leaders Floriana.

As it turned out, a tactically well-deployed Ħamrun Spartans were only just denied of the spoils against their more-fancied opponents. They had upped their game considerably in the second period to reduce Valletta to struggling lot. Although Valletta had been the more positive outfit in the first part of the game. their goalkeeper Henry Bonello had to pull of a couple of fine saves to keep his net intact.

Quiet, unproductive exchanges marked the opening minutes. Neither side was able to make any headway with custodians at both ends remaining idle.

Darren Abdilla, Valletta's coach, must have been confident that the Lilywhites would pick maximum spoils with Mario Fontanella and Matteo Piciollo leading the forward line, it seemed simply a matter of time before one of the two would draw first blood.

But in reality, their Italian forward line blotted out in the first half and the only menace came from a bold run of Enmy Pena Beltre on the cusp of...