There was only one slight change to the standings this weekend with Pieta Hotspurs sliding down to ninth place while seeing Floriana joining them on 11 points and Mosta moving to eight points after their good 3-1 win over the same Hotspurs.

At the top, Hibernians and Sliema were still in unimpressive form but they still managed ‘comfortable’ victories over Hamrun Spartans and Valletta respectively to maintain the pace at the top. Birkirkara and Marsaxlokk occupy third and fourth places, though they were both inactive.

The weekend was perhaps characterised by the two excellent goals scored during the Pieta-Mosta match on Saturday at the Hibs ground.

It is quite rare that we see such goals in our stadia let alone in a match involving two relegation haunted teams.

But I must not fail to mention and praise both Udo Nwoko of Mosta and Claudio Calleja of Pieta who scored a gem each in the 3-1 win for Mosta.

It is quite unfortunate that on such an occasion, there was a very small crowd at the Hibs Ground to witness and applaud such great feats which, otherwise, would have hit the headlines in a Eurgol programme around Europe!

Mosta have now moved on to the eight-point mark, three points behind the same Pieta and Floriana, who obtained another point from their match against Msida.

The battle against relegation is hotting up considerably as five matches remain to be played by the end of the second round.

Msida are the most comfortably placed on 17 points at present, but Valletta (14), Hamrun (13), Floriana and Pieta (11) and Mosta (8) are all involved in the battle to avoid the Relegation Pool.

It is a highly interesting situation which, perhaps, will be more intriguing than the battle for the Championship Pool places, where the top four places have almost been assured already.

In Saturday’s matches, Mosta played some good football to turn the tables on Pieta who, after taking the lead in the first half, failed to maintain their momentum and were completely taken by surprise.

Mosta have not yet thrown in the towel, but in so far as Pieta are concerned, and despite their perhaps justified lamentations over the standard of refereeing on Saturday, it is a big uphill struggle considering the very difficult programme ahead of them before the end of the second round of the first phase.

Msida and Floriana shared the spoils in a match where the foreign players of the two sides, particularly Eviparker of Floriana and Nwoke of Msida missed some good chances which could have given their respective sides the three points.

Yet, the draw was the most fair result and it must have contented both sides, though it is obvious that three points would have been better.

On Sunday, the joint league leaders registered comfortable victories against opponents from the lower end of the table, but the results – 2-0 for Hibs against Hamrun and especially the 3-0 for Sliema against Valletta – were highly flattering.

The Paolites only made sure of their victory with goals in the second half as the Spartans failed to maintain their first half composure.

And it was only after having secured the result through Julian Vella’s second goal that they finally got into a form of top gear and started playing confidently against a well organised and disciplined Hamrun side in which Jonathan Magri Overend played a splendid match.

The 3-0 result for Sliema over Valletta was also flattering. It is to be mentioned that Valletta, though playing for most of the second half with a man more after Stefan Giglio’s expulsion, hit the Sliema post on no fewer than three occasions.

It was a day when the ball simply did not want to go into the Sliema net!

The Blues took advantage of some City defensive lapses to score two of their goals from set-pieces.

Their performance was perhaps unimpressive but the victory will certainly go a long way towards restoring the confidence in the champions’ ranks. Until a few weeks ago, they seemed to be running away with their fourth consecutive title, that is, before they lost two matches in quick succession.

Best player

Joe Brincat (Sliema W.)

Veteran Joe Brincat is my pick this weekend after another good performance in the match against Valletta.

He was one of just a few shining lights in the Sliema side on Sunday and it was definitely his inspiration and experience which led the Blues to the double against Valletta, especially considering that they had to play almost all the second half in ten men.

He led the Blues from midfield, but his major contribution arrived from those two set-pieces from which Sliema obtained their first two goals.

Leading scorers

10 – Cleaven Frendo

9 – Michael Galea, Andrew Cohen

8 – Gaetan Spiteri, Daniel Nwoke, Daniel Bogdanovic, Danilo Doncic

7 – Martin Deanov

6 – Ivan Woods, Terence Scerri, Wendell Gomes

5 – Maczerob Okoro, David Camilleri, Udo Nwoko

Next matches

At Ta’ Qali national stadium

7 January

Hamrun S.-Floriana

Pieta H.-Birkirkara