Interesting milestones were reached by a number of Premier Division players in this weekly column with facts and figures. This week, Effiong's first goal for Sirens ment a personal milestone for the veteran striker, while Malta national team captain Andrei Agius, one week after playing his 500th official senior match, reached another interesting figure in his long career.
1 – Montenegrin forward Bojan Kaljevic became the first player to fail from the penalty spot this season. He missed target in Balzan’s 1-0 win over Hamrun Spartans.5 - Gudja United beat Sliema Wanderers 3-2 which was Gudja's fifth positive consecutive Premier Division result against the Blues in history; 3 wins and two draws. Therefore, Sliema have so far never beaten Gudja in an official match. Remarkable.10 - Balzan's 1-0 win over Hamrun Spartans was their tenth in history over the current Maltese Champions in 21 Premier Division encounters so far.14 – This is the total number of both referees and assistant referees who officiated the 24 matches in the 2021/22 Premier Division so far. Referee Andrea Sciriha and assistant referee Shaun Calleja, contributed to this tally during the encounter Sliema Wanderers vs Gudja United. It was Calleja’s debut in the top division.15 – This was the 15th scoreline of 1-1 between Birkirkara and Floriana. The first 1-1 result dates back to 17th December 1955. The Stripes broke the deadlock by a Roy Swift own goal with Tony Cauchi equalising for the Greens.30 – This was the 30th encounter between Valletta and Gzira United in the top division of Maltese football. Gzira won ten of these encounters, five at the old Empire Stadium and 5 at the National Stadium.40 - Hibernians and Mosta met for the 40th time in history. In total 36 of these were played in the top Division and four in the FA Trophy.50 – Jamaican striker David Reid's late goal in Sirens' 3-1 victory over Santa Lucia, was the 50th goal of the season in the 2021/22 Premier Division.100 – In their match against Gzira United, Valletta defender Ryan Camilleri became the 100th player to be shown the yellow card this season. The ex-Malta international defender was cautioned in stoppage time of the first period by referee Ishmael Barbara for stopping a promising attack.150 – Veteran striker Alfred Effiong bagged his 150th personal goal in the top flight in Sirens’ 3-1 win against Sta Lucia. He made his MPL debut with St Georges’ on 14th January 2007 against Marsaxlokk (1-1). Since then he played 364 matches with seven different teams. He scored 63 Premier Division goals with Qormi, 43 with Balzan, 17 in the colours of Marsaxlokk, ten for Hamrun Spartans, nine with Valletta, seven for St George’s, while his goal last Saturday was his first one for Sirens. He is now approaching the MPL totals of Danilo Doncic (151).200 – Andrei Agius has now made 200 appearances in the Premier League. The Hibernians international defender reached this milestone last Saturday in the 3-1 victory over Mosta. Apart from 186 MPL Matches with his current club Hibernians, he also played 12 matches for Birkirkara and two for Sliema Wanderers at the very start of his long career (2003/04).200 - Kristian Keqi's goal against Birkirkara was the 200th Floriana goal against Birkirkara (all competitions) in 154 encounters.