Marked for Matthew Bolaños
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match24 Oct 2026
10 unbeaten for Mosta
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Mosta did not have in the autumn.
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Mosta
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Matthew Bolaños falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Mosta
Prince Chibuzor Emmanuel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Mosta
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Mosta
Matthew Bolaños was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match17 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Mosta
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mosta can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad19 Oct 2026
João Victor falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Diamanka Senghor dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Sep 2026
Mosta march on in the cup
Marsaxlokk are out and Mosta go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match3 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Mosta do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mosta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Mosta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matthew Bolaños is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
179% of the income goes out in wages at Mosta
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
Mosta supporters have found a favourite in Nathan Agius
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Nathan Agius has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 7.96 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Mosta had the best player on the pitch.
In brief
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Mosta
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Match
Point won or two lost for Mosta?
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Market
Mosta and Nathan Agius are talking past each other
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mosta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Matthew Bolaños falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market14 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A mark of 7.93, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
Mosta say no — this time
The offer from Auckland FC for Diamanka Senghor was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Mosta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matthew Bolaños is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mosta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mosta, another week without a signature from Wisdom Magbisa.
Match5 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Hamrun Spartans leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Auckland FC have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Diamanka Senghor. The answer from Mosta has not changed — yet.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mosta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
3 academy players handed senior numbers at Mosta
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Market31 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Martin Micallef has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market31 Aug 2026
One of our own: Alan Pace joins the Mosta first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alan Pace is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market31 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Robert Farrugia has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
Mosta turn down the training-ground plan
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mosta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Mosta training over how hard people work
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Squad
Juan González still has not settled
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Squad
Questions about Giancarlo on the training pitch
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Wisdom Magbisa gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Wisdom Magbisa has just signed for Mosta, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Diamanka Senghor and Mosta agree another 4 years.
Market3 Aug 2026
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Zachary Brincat is a Mosta player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Mosta
Pedro Cacho was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Mosta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matthew Bolaños is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market3 Aug 2026
João Victor told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” João Victor has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Mosta.