Birkirkara made the most of their direct opponents’ lapses at the weekend – taking a good four-point lead over Sliema and Marsaxlokk and opening a five-point gap with fourth placed Hibernians.

All this after an easy 5-0 win for the Stripes over Msida St Joseph and surprise – though not quite unexpected – defeats for Hibernians and Sliema against Valletta and Marsaxlokk respectively.

Stripes coach Stephen Azzopardi must be beaming after the weekend matches. Not only did his team maintain the form that was shown in the second round of the first phase, not only did their direct opponents lose their matches and not only did his team open a sound-looking four-point gap at the top. No that was not enough. Valletta also had their star player Gilbert Agius sent off in the match against Hibernians and that means the Stripes will be facing Valletta without Agius next Saturday. It was a brilliant strike of good luck for the Stripes.

However, I cannot deny the fact that they deserve to be up there. They are the best side at present, showing the better ideas on the field of play, showing the right attitude and, most of all, showing the consistency which is so lacking in some of the other challengers.

Azzopardi must be credited with most of this as he has managed to motivate his side properly.

On Saturday, after Michael Galea opened the scoring on five minutes, there was no stopping them as they scored another five goals against the hapless Saints – 14 in three matches against them this season.

The result in itself reflects the big gap which existed between the two teams on the field of play. What is really worth mentioning is the goal scored by Roderick Briffa – certainly one of the best seen this season.

In the second match, Hibernians suffered their sixth defeat of the season – and the third against Valletta – as Argentine striker Sebastian Monesterolo gunned them down with an excellent hat-trick.

It was just reward for this striker who has given the citizens a new lease of life, producing an excellent partnership with Gilbert Agius. He certainly has the knack for goal and for the citizens, he should be another Danilo Doncic, when he was still at his best.

On the other hand, I must also say that Hibernians were unlucky as they were on the receiving end of some decisions by referee Zammit, who left a lot to be desired.

The Paolites were denied penalties at least on two occasions, if not three, when they were not awarded penalties at a time when a goal in their favour would have changed the whole story.

The control of Mr Zammit was quite controversial and, in fact, I thought that the red card shown to Aaron Xuereb and Gilbert Agius was somewhat harsh, although in all fairness, I never heard what was said by both players to each other in that heated argument.

In the process Valletta have now lost key man Gilbert Agius for their forthcoming difficult match against Birkirkara on Saturday. But the fact that they are aware that the three points will move them closer to Hibernians in fourth place will certainly give them some added motivation as they are hoping to be in Europe again next season.

On Sunday the surprising Marsaxlokk side overcame the champions by the odd goal in three after coming back from a goal behind to score twice in the second half.

It was the first time since their promotion to the Premier League that Marsaxlokk have beaten the Wanderers, but they certainly merited the three points on the day.

On Sunday, Ray Farrugia’s boys showed that they are not to be taken for granted by any other championship title challenger. Despite having several Under 21 players in their ranks, the team is clicking well at present and seem to be a sound bet to become Birkirkara’s main challengers. The direct match between the two teams should produce further indications of what is in store in this year’s Championship Pool.

Sliema failed miserably. After an encouraging start, during which they also took the lead with a good goal from Doncic, the side lost all its splendour as Marsaxlokk started their great recovery which culminated in those two quick goals in the second half which enabled them to turn defeat into a memorable victory.

The Blues were a miserable lot in the second half. One expected much more from such a team of seasoned and experienced campaigners. Even when Marsaxlokk took the lead, I expected the Blues to react strongly, but they failed and their reaction never materialised.

In the process, not only did they lost all the three points, but have seen the gap with Birkirkara increase to four points in just one strike and where it really hurts.

At the other end of the table, I must commend bottom club Mosta who showed all their three opponents in the Relegation Pool, that they have not yet thrown in the towel after their deserved win over Pieta Hotspurs.

Mosta produced another good rally in the second half to come back from a goal behind to beat the Hotspurs 3-1. The latter have now remained two points behind Hamrun and Floriana who have a match in hand, but Mosta have crept up to the seven points mark, just one behind Pieta and three behind Hamrun and Floriana.

This result shows that even the Relegation Pool will be keenly contested, especially if the coming weekend clash between Hamrun and Floriana, ends in a draw.

Sebastian Omar Monesterolo

(Valletta FC)

A great-hat-trick and a very good performance overall were the main charactertics of this player in last Saturday 3-1 win by the citizens over Hibernians.

Monesterolo destroyed the Paolites on his own with those three great goals, but he will be the first to concede that he owes a lot of his success to the prowess of city’s great star Gilbert Agius.

The Argentine striker has turned into one of Valletta’s great assets since the start of the New Year. He has transformed the City team from one fighting to avoid the Relegation Pool to another now fighting for a place in European football next season.

Leading scorers

17 – Michael Galea

11 – Cleaven Frendo, Etienne Barbara

10 – Daniel Bogdanovic, Andrew Cohen, Danilo Doncic, Daniel Nwoke,

9 – Gaetan Spiteri, Adrian Mifsud, Ivan Woods

8 – Martin Deanov,

7 – Wendell Gomes, Andre Schembri

6 – Terence Scerri, Maczerob Okoro, Haruna Doda,

5 – David Camilleri, Udo Nwoko, Ikechuckwu Chibueze, Sebastian Monesterolo, J. Brincat

4 – A. Zahra, D. Theuma, R. Bajada, W. Camenzuli, I. Zammit, M. Calascione, M. Licari, E. Mbong, S. Giglio, P. Scriha, I. Babatunde, R. Bajada, D. Falzon, A. Ciantar

Next matches

(at Ta’ Qali Stadium)

Saturday 11 March

2pm Valletta-Birkirkara

4pm Sliema W.-Hibernians

(at Hibs Ground)

Sunday 12 March

1.45pm Floriana-Hamrun S.

3.45pm Marsaxlokk-Msida SJ