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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 10 MAY 2015 33 Sport FOOTBALL SPORTTODAY Hibernians end their fixtures on a positive note Hibernians .....................3 Valletta .........................1 EDWARD FALZON NEWLY crowned champions Hiber- nians beat Valletta 3-1 in the season's finale of the BOV 2014-2015 season as both teams turn their attention to the FA Trophy next week. With Hibernians already declared champions two weeks ago and Vallet- ta securing second spot, the highlight of the fixture was most certainly the post-match celebrations and presen- tation of the trophy. Also present for the game was Prime Minister Joseph Muscat who watched alongside MFA president Norman Darmanin Demajo and gen- eral secretary Bjorn Vassallo. Valletta defender Jonathan Carua- na had a nightmare start to the game, being forced off after just three min- utes of play. Hardly a minute later, a danger- ous back-pass towards keeper Henry Bonello by Bjorn Kristensen almost handed Valletta striker Elford Alliyu a great opportunity to open the score but Bonello managed to clear the danger in time. The first moments of the game saw play being dictated in the middle of the pitch with both sets of players playing incorrect passes and commit- ting rash mistakes. However on 15 minutes, Hiber- nians broke the deadlock in their first serious attempt when a through ball from Kristensen released Jorge Silva who broke free of Dimech's marking to beat Marino with a powerful low shot. Valletta went close to scoring an equaliser when a perfect Roderick Briffa chipped through ball found Hamza Barry in the box who skilfully skipped past a defender before having his curled effort turned into a corner by Bonello. On 32 minutes, it was the Paolites' Rodolfo Soares leaving the pitch through injury; being replaced by youngster Keith Tanti. Hibernians doubled the score on 36 minutes when again they took advantage of some loose marking by the Valletta defence. It was a similar build up to the first goal with Jorge Silva again finding himself in the penalty box after a neat through ball to easily beat Marino for his second of the game. Nerves were now starting to fray on the Valletta players with Luke Di- mech shown a yellow card after two consecutive nasty challenges. The end of the first half saw Hiber- nians taking a comfortable two goal lead over their opponents. Two minutes into the second half and Valletta were down to ten men. A through ball towards Jorge Silva saw the onrushing Marino trip his opponent with the referee having no choice but to order a penalty and show a straight red to the Italian keeper. From the spot, Jorge Silva made it 3-0 to clinch his personal hat trick of the game. On 71 minutes a typical Clayton Failla free kick stamped by the wood- work. Valletta reduced the deficit through a trade mark Shaun Bajada finish bril- liantly lobbing the ball over the head of keeper Bonello who was caught out of place. There was no other action after that with the final whistle seeing players, coaches and supporters run across the pitch to celebrate a most deserved title success for Hibernians, who suf- fered just one league defeat all season after already being declared champi- ons. HIBERNIANS: Henry Bonello, Rui da Gracia Gomes, Jackson Lima, Ro- dolfo Soares (33' Keith Tanti), Marce- lo Dias (83' Timothy Tabone Desira), Andrew Cohen, Bjorn Kristensen (63' Jurgen Degabriele), Clayton Failla, Jo- hann Bezzina, Andrei Agius, Jorge da Silva Pereira. Subs not used: Jurgen Borg, Jonathan Pearson, Luis Andre de Melo Lima, Joseph Mbong. Coach: Branko Nisevic VALLETTA: Pietro Demetrio Mari- no, Jonathan Caruana (2' Ikenna Paul Hillary), Ian Azzopardi, Ryan Camill- eri, Ryan Fenech, Hamza Barry, Rod- erick Briffa, Lateef Elford Alliyu (75' Llywelyn Cremona), Shaun Bajada, Abdelkarim Nafti, Luke Dimech. Subs not used: Nicky Vella, Hamid Alkamali, Christian Caruana, Ni- cholas Pulis, Dario Tabone. Coach: Gilbert Agius Referee: Clayton Pisani Assistant Referees: William Debattis- ta, David Castillo Fourth Official: Philip Farrugia Yellow Cards: Dimech Red Cards: Marino BOV Player of the Match: Jorge da Silva Pereira PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD Continues on pages 34-35