Pieta Hotspur 4

Birzebbuga 3

After two defeats and a disappointing draw against bottom of the table St George’s, leaders Pieta Hotspur returned to winning ways beating Birzebbuga with a majestic first half performance.

In fact Pieta played a superb first 45 minutes, and were a completely transformed side compared to their recent poor showings. Pieta crowned their good first half showing with three goals to their credit, as Birzebbuga were never in the picture.

But in the second half Birzebbuga came back strongly and with two late goals they put the issue wide open, but Pieta managed to hold to their lead to grab three precious points.

Pieta immediately took took the lead on five minutes when Larsson Mallia easily tapped the ball home from close range following a Jurgen Pisani cross from the left. Pieta doubled the score on 30 minutes when Refalo split the Birzebbuga defence with an inch perfect pass and Jurgen Pisani beat Casha in style. Six minutes later Pieta scored a third with a brilliant move between Refalo and Zarate who crossed to the completely unmarked Vinicius Pereira Dos Santos who made no mistake in front of goal.

Birzebbuga were a transformed side in the second half and pulled on back on 50 minutes when Frantisek Schneider fired home from close range after Montfort and defender Clive Spiteri had blocked his first two shots. But on 66 minutes Pieta re-established their three goal lead when Vinicius Pereira Dos Santos scored a beauty following another Pisani good move.

Jurgen Pisani limped off following this goal and Birzebbuga did not throw in the towel. They pulled one back through Paul Camilleri following a Schneider freekick and seven minutes from time they were back in business when Todorov scored following a Clive Spiteri bad clearance.

Birzebbuga pushed everything desperately forward in the final minutes but Pieta almost scored a fifth goal in stoppage time but Cain Attard’s shot was cleared off the goal line by Kenneth Spiteri

Pieta H: M. Montfort, C. Spiteri, E. Giaccaglia, Q. Refalo, T. Agius, V. P. Dos Santos (M. Agius), L. Mallia (A. Spiteri), C. Cassar, J. Zarate, J. Pisani (C. Attard), I. Grech

Birzebbuga: I. Casha, K. Borg, M. Pullicino (A. Dalli), F. Schneider, K. Spiteri, M. Gabriel, G. Tanti, P. Camilleri, M. Mifsud, K. Muscat (M. Sciortino), M. Boycho Todorov

Referee: Adrian Azzopardi