GREEN GULLY 1 ( HADER 77' )
SUNSHINE GEORGE CROSS 2 ( MUSCAT 43', 75' )

LINE UP: John(GK), Erdogan, Rocco, Azzopardi, Muscat (c), Delic ( Alghazaly 17'), Tsirtsakis, Trpcevski (Napoli 90'), Richards ( Falzon 35'), Gilmour, Draycott Subs not used: Fiorenza (GK), Gauci-Seddon

The Georgies had to overcome great odds in this titanic encounter agaisnt eternal rival Green Gully. Having had to start to match without the in form Trent Waterson, the Georgies suffered two more serious injuries in the first 36 minutes of the match when Dusko Delic injured a quad muscle and play maker Fidell Richards dislocated an elbow after falling awkwardly. Their replacements were youngsters Fahed Alghazlay and debutant Jonathon Falzon. Both worked hard and made an impact and constantly worried the Gully rear guard.
|It was Gully who settled best in the early stages with Lubo Lapsansky and Roddy Vargas in control in the midfield. They constantly won the ball and created a few worrying moments for the Georgies defence. Serkan Oksuz got behind the Cross defence after 18 minutes, but his final pass was wayward and headed out for a corner by Manny Muscat. Gully's tactics were very basic as every time they got the ball in their own half they continuously pumped long high balls that Colin Azzopardi and Daniel Rocco dealt with easily . The Georgies best effort was a double shot attempt by the fast raiding Muscat, but his final shot was way off target. Gully almost broke the deadlock after 28 minutes following a corner kick. Tall Defender Dean Fak rose high above the pack to smack a header against the post. The ball fell to Oksuz but he was quickly shut down by Cross keeper Martin John who produced a great save with his legs. At the other end Fidell Richards combined well with Vasko Trpcevski that ended with a great shot on target by Richards. The Georgies were mixing it well with their Gully opponent and appeared the more systematic of the two sides.
Gully relied on physical strength with a direct approach, whereas the Georgies tried to create openings with short on the ground passes. With only two minutes to the end of the first half, Manny Muscat ghosted past Brandon Vassallo on the left side to get on to a pass and head home the opening goal. Within a minute it was almost 2-0, when a back header from Zoran Markovski had Gully keeper Loncaric at full stretch preventing a second Georgie goal.
The second half was a more physical battle with a lot of action off the ball. The Georgies were their own worst enemy as on a number of occasions they got into good positions only to be let down with the final pass.
On 57 minutes Mark Draycott was put through on goal but was upended by Markovski just outside the penalty area.
Markovski took exception to the foul and remonstrated with the referee and other Georgie players. He also appeared to lift his arm and was spotted by the linesman. Referee Bruno D'Aniello, after consultation with his assistant, had no hesitation dismissing the big defender much to delight of the Georgie fans behind the goals. From the resultant free kick Vasko Trpcevski beat the wall and the keeper but steered his effort just wide of the post.
The Georgies took full control with some very good football involving Trpcevski, Alghazaly, Muscat and Draycott. They continuously cut open the Gully defence with shots just being off target or saved by the busy Gully keeper. A second goal was on the cards and it duly arrived after 74 minutes, when little Jonathon Falzon stole the ball of Dragi Nastevski. The youngster swung over a long ball across the other side of the ground when once again Manny Muscat ghosted in on the left. Muscat went around Gully defender Philip Reccobene, and with a low shot to the near pst scored his and the Georgies second goal. Gully reduced the margin to just a goal just two minutes later, when substitute Andrew Marth found an on rushing Peter Hader who scored with a well placed header. The Cross held out for the rest of the game with ease and should have increased their lead when a great effort by Draycott was turned away for a corner by a fully stretched Loncaric. The final whistle produced wild scenes of celebrations by the Georgies faithful who saw their team do themselves a great favour in their relegation fight and end a drought of wins at Green Gully that stretched back to 1994. In the under 21 the Georgies completed the double with an emphatic 3-1 victory over the Gully. Goal scorers were Con Pareskevas 2 and Miguel Barrigos.