30 October 2022
GFA Division I KO (Q/finals) Kercem Arkafort Stadium
Kercem Ajax FC : 0
Nadur Youngsters FC : 3
14’ (0-1) Gustavo Dourado Ferreira
58’ (0-2) Gabriel Farrugia
62’ (0-3) Lucas Baretto Da Silva
Kercem A:
D. Spiteri, D. Cassar, N. Mercieca, L.H. Santana Motta, J. Theuma, P. Vinicius De Moraes Ferreira, A. Mizzi, G. Cardona (C. Attard), K. Formosa (A. Zammit), S. Azzopardi, M.V. Da Costa Soares Da Silva.
Nadur Y:
S. Sultana, L.B. Da Silva, M. Tabone, I. Xuereb, J.M. Vella (M.P. Camilleri), M. Jr. Barbosa, I. Nedeljkovic, G. Hili, G. Farrugia (N. Mifsud), G. Dourado Ferreira, G. Muscat (P.P. Camilleri).
Nadur Youngsters obtained a convincing win over Kercem Ajax in the main match from the quarter finals stage of the GFA First Division Knock Out and are therefore in a position to defend this secondary honour in Gozitan football. The match failed to reach the expectations as Nadur prevailed over their opponents for most of the encounter. In this match between Nadur, who are the current leaders of the championship, and Kercem, who are still undefeated in the league and are considered as serious challengers for the honours, Nadur managed to score and early goal and made sure of the deserved win and the qualification by scoring two goals in the space of four minutes when there were around 30 minutes of play left until the end of the match.
Nadur’s aggressive start compromised Kercem’s ambitions to obtain a win from this encounter as they struggled to produce offensive play. Kercem may have surprised their opponents near the end of the first half and at the beginning of the second half but the Ajax missed their best scoring opportunities and practically threw the towel well before the end of the encounter. In the semi-final stage Nadur will meet Victoria Hotspurs.
Timeline
Nadur were more adventurous during the opening minutes of the encounter and took a deserved lead at an early stage so that they managed to neutralise Kercem’s reaction by keeping an organised deployment and their goalkeeper was not called to make difficult interventions. Nadur continued to create more danger during the first half but they failed to capitalise from their best chances to take the break with a comfortable lead.
12’ Nadur missed a good scoring opportunity when the ball arrived to an unmarked Gustavo Dourado Ferreira following a prolonged action but the young striker concluded incredibly high from a good position.
14’ (0-1) Nadur opened the score when Gustavo Dourado Ferreira made up for his mistake and placed in goal with a low shot after receiving from Marcelo Barbosa.
29’ Nadur missed a good opportunity to double their lead when Marcelo Barbosa entered Kercem’s area, avoided the goalkeeper but had his attempt that was blocked by the defence. From the same clearance the ball arrived to Gustavo Dourado Ferreira but the latter saw his attempt that ended away from goal.
42’ Kercem went very close to level the score but a header from close distance by Luiz Henrique Santa Motta following a freekick by Nathaniel Mercieca ended wide.
44’ Nadur were again dangerous when Marcelo Barbosa passed inside Kercem’s area from the left flank but from his cross Igor Nedeljkovic failed to connect.
HT (0-1)
Second Half
Kercem came out for the second period in a better shape and seemed determined to put more pressure on their opponents in an attempt to recover the score. However, Nadur maintained their composure and paved the way to the win by adding two goals around the hour mark so that the match lost much of the interest during the last half hour of play.
7’ Kercem created a dangerous situation in front of Nadur’s goal when a header by Marcos Soares Da Silva from a corner kick by Pablo Vincius Ferreira was blocked with some difficulty by the defence.
9’ Kercem went again close to scoring from another corner kick by Pablo Vinicus Ferreira but the header by Andrew Mizzi ended wide.
12’ Nadur replied with a counter break that ended with a shot by Igor Nedeljkovic that was saved in two attempts by Kercem’s keeper Daniel Spiteri.
13’ (0-2) Nadur doubled the score when Kercem’s defence failed to clear the ball from the danger area following a prolonged action and at the end the ball arrived to Gabriel Farrugia who addressed towards goal from the edge of the area and the ball ended in goal despite the attempt of Kercem’s keeper to block the danger.
16’ Kercem’s goalie Daniel Spiteri denied Nadur from scoring another goal when he turned to a corner with difficulty a strike from outside the area by Joseph Mario Vella.
17’ (0-3) From the resultant corner kick by Gennaro Hili, Nadur added another goal that arrived through a header by Lucas Baretto Da Silva that ended in the corner of the net.
22’ Kercem’s keeper Daniel Spiteri was again called to make a difficult save to turn to a corner a good shot by Marcelo Barbosa.
36’ Nadur were again dangerous when Marcelo Barbosa released Igor Nedeljkovic who entered the area but his shot was blocked to a corner by the defence.
FT (KA 0 – NY 3)
Referee: Ishmael Barbara
0 Comments