League season kicks-off with some surprises

The Gibraltar football league kicked off with some early surprises on Friday as the first matchday saw last season’s bottom-of-the-league team, College 1975, come away with a victory over Manchester 62. The latter, who had announced a £20 million investment at the end of last season and reinforced their squad, were dealt a blow after taking an early lead.
A 12th-minute goal by Moth was canceled out by homegrown young talent Duo as College 1975 leveled the score. Navas Gomez then struck the final blow with a 67th-minute goal, securing College 1975 their first three points of the season.
Europa FC, who struggled last season and only found form towards the latter part of the second round before ending their season early, produced a late winning spree to claim all three points against Lynx. In a tense encounter, 36-year-old Kyle Casciaro, who moved from Bruno Magpies to Lynx this summer, put the Yellows in the lead in the 63rd minute. However, their celebrations were short-lived. Just ten minutes later, Vittorio leveled the score. In the final ten minutes of the match, Labrador and Vittorio (once again) added to Europa’s tally, allowing them to walk away with a 3-1 victory in their first match of the season. Europa, captained by former St. Joseph’s captain Mouelhi, also saw players such as Shay Jones, Vinet, and Bernades Alt in their starting eleven.
Another surprise came from Glacis United, who, despite struggling with consistency last season due to a small squad, started this season with an emphatic victory against Europa Point. The latter, who finished in the top six last season, were dealt a blow early on as Cardoso dismantled any hopes of securing their first three points with a hat-trick within the first 48 minutes of the match. Samuels added to the score with a 54th-minute goal, giving Glacis United a 4-0 victory and momentarily placing them at the top of the table.
Sunday saw last season’s third-placed Bruno Magpies take on a new-look Lions Gibraltar, who signed a long list of players this summer and were tested almost immediately. The return of David Wilson as head coach for Lions Gibraltar was marked by defeat in a tense encounter with little difference between the two sides.
A 12th-minute goal from Stevens gave the Magpies the lead, but it was canceled out by Lions’ summer signing Flynn Gillespie, who continued his goalscoring spree in the Gibraltar league. The former Lynx player had scored 14 goals in two rounds last season for Lynx. Bruno Magpies had to wait until the final ten minutes before taking their final bite, with a goal from Gil clinching their first three points as they bid for a top-three finish again this season.

Images by Christian Correa / C Correa Photography