Zabbar St Patrick win National Amateur Cup

NATIONAL AMATEUR CUP FINAL 2022/23
Zabbar St Patrick 2-0 Mgarr United

In front of a sizeable crowd, Zabbar St Patrick managed to consolidate their Amateur Cup title of last year by beating Mgarr United 2-0 at the Victor Tedesco Stadium. It was a deserved win for Zabbar, although the heavily depleted Mgarr United side had their moments, creating a few good goalscoring opportunities throughout the match. Match winner however was lanky Brazilian striker David Oliveira Souza, who scored both goals late in the second half.

Zabbar interim coach Emilio Cornago opted to leave out Carl Magro from the starting line-up, the only player who appeared in all 28 previous Zabbar games. Liam Lagana was rewarded a place between the sticks, while Cornago gave Clayton Camilleri a place in midfield, a real St Patrick evergreen as he was playing his 186^th game for the Zabbar side. Nick Borg started on the bench but entered the fray late in the match, while Kurt Borg was injured.

For Mgarr, the biggest absentee was NAL Top Scorer Christian Saint Ebisindor, as the Nigerian attacker needed to sit out his first of a three-match suspension after his red card in the final of the Promotion Play-Offs. Fellow striker Saturday Nanapere was also suspended for Jason Camenzuli’s side, who opted to started with dangerman Leejoe Schembri on the bench, who was not fully fit.

As usual this season, Zabbar tried to pull the match towards them from the very beginning as, at times, Mgarr looked vulnerable during the opening period. However, both goalkeepers had a rather quiet first 45 minutes, with Mgarr’s Jacob Chircop St.John perhaps a little more busier then Lagana on the other side. The Greens structured themselves well in defence, playing on the counter-attack with Liam Portelli and Jurgen Grech keeping the Zabbar rear-guard on the alert. Their best chance before the break was the one 37 minutes when Lagana fumbled the ball from a Grech corner and Clayton Borg nearly tapped home from close-range. Earlier on, Zabbar wing back Timothy Tabone-Desire had an attempt which sailed inches over the crossbar.

The second half was most definitely a better one with Zabbar keeping the initiative. But it was Mgarr who threatened first when Jamie-Lee Micallef’s grounder on 54 minutes, after receiving from Gabriel Sant, was kicked from the goal line by a St Patrick defender. However, seven minutes later, Zabbar broke the deadlock when David Oliveira tapped in from close-range from a Camilleri cross from the left, a ball which Chircop-St John failed to intercept. Five minutes later on the other side, Portelli used his speed to advance, but his shot from the edge of the box sailed high. Substitute Nick Borg should have doubled on 78 minutes after receiving from Shalon Diacono, with Chircop St John blocking his first attempt and defender Clayton Borg his second. Two minutes later however, David Oliveira ended all uncertainty about the outcome of this Final, with a splendid shot from about 25 meters distance, much to the delight of the faithful St Patrick supporters.

Malta FA General Secretary Dr Angelo Chetcuti presented the National Amateur Cup to St Patrick captain Dion Fava while, despite another wonderful season, Mgarr was left behind empty handed, missing out on promotion and silverware.