FC Scandinavia (FCS) was thrilled to announce that last year's defender of the year in the Malta Premier League, Denmark's Ronny Hartvig, would join their GIDA Sunday League squad. But the joy did not last for long.

Hartvig played two cup matches for Birkirkara in August, which apparently is against league regulations. As a result, Hartvig will most probably be denied participation for FC Scandinavia throughout the season. This was a massive blow for the northern newcomers, but they seem to have recovered well, judging by the three points and the clean sheet in the season opener against Young Boys on Sunday.

While Hartvig was denied by the rules, Andreas "Taco" Lilja stepped up in the FCS defence, denying Young Boys any goal on Melita Ground. Lilja was awarded with a player rating of 9 out of 10 for his effort, and was picked as the All-In Translations Man of the Match. He paired up brilliantly with Norway's Thomas Bangstad in the FCS central defence.

"We had a somewhat shaky start. With a 4-3-3 formation, everybody wanted to attack. But as soon as we tightened things up and denied them the space in between our defence and midfield, they could not produce any chances. The fact that we won, scoring 1-0 after becoming one man short, shows we were the better team", says Lilja.

And although the Man of the Match was happy about the victory, he would like to see some changes in the starting line up.

"I think Per (Hertz) should play central striker, with Lars (Johansson) to the right and Sebastian (Delsinger) as "Messi" to the left. Emiliano (Sener) should be on as a central midfielder", comments a happy Lilja, which now is guaranteed to remain on top of the All-In Translations Player of the Year list for two weeks until the next game against Birnapa.