Tough loss against Swieqi Braves on MatchDay 2

Unlike the win against Birkirkara St Joseph on opening day, Naxxar Victorians suffered a rough blow on Matchday 2 when they lost 9-2 to promotion hopefuls Swieqi Braves.

It was a day to forget for the boys on the pitch as nothing could go right with the team struggling from the start and early goals did not help the cause at all. To make things worse, injuries to goalkeeper Ayrton Agius, and defenders Jack Azzopardi and Dale Cassar added to coach Connor Muchmore‘s woes.

It was clear before the start of the fixture that the Swieqi team, composed solely of foreign students of its international football academy, would be the toughest nut to crack in the division. The team had cruised through the third division last season in their debut year and look to be on the road to continuing this run in the 2022/23 season as well.

Coach Muchmore set his team in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Azzopardi making his season debut at centreback while new signings Ernesto Hoxha and Antonio Dattoli started their first Victorians game.

Numerous changes were affected due to Fabrizio Farrugia and Nathan Farrugia being out injured and Keith Zammit Tabone being unavailable for this fixture. Jimmy Hare, who started on the bench against Birkirkara, started in midfield instead of Nathan Farrugia as Azzopardi replaced Zammit Tabone.

MATCH REPORT

Swieqi’s strength kicked in early as they scored their first goal after just three minutes after a failed clearance. The Victorians players were stunned but despite conceding again, Hoxha got his first goal for the club to reduce the margin.

While this was motivation for the Victorians, the Braves replied almost instantly and the floodgates opened as they added three more goals to go into halftime at 5-1.

The second half was more of the same as the team looked disjointed. In spite of this, Dattoli produced a moment of brilliance right after the break with his shot from close to the halfway line flying past the Swieqi goalkeeper.

However, this was the last of the Victorians as Swieqi pounded in more goals to finish the game at 9-2.

Naxxar Victorians face Zabbar Soutsiders next in the MAFA Division Two – Check out this fixture here!