Senglea-Msida St Joseph 1-3
Msida St Joseph also reached the quarter-finals of the competition when in yesterday’s second match, they found little difficulty in beating first division Senglea.
The Athletic provided stubborn resistance until Msida scored the first goal. They even managed to share the exchanges, but did not find the space to have at least one pot at goal.
On their part, Msida showed superiority even though they were playing without several of their established players, including Nwoke, Sciberras, Bajada and Sammut.
The match was in the balance until Msida scored the opening goal. From then onwards, Senglea threw in the towel, conceding another goal just before the interval and the third soon after the changeover. And although they pulled back a goal, they did not have enough firepower to push themselves back into the game.
Play was poor throughout but on 18 minutes, Msida went close through a Clint Micallef shot that just missed the target.
At the other end, Erin Azzopardi also had a good chance for Senglea, but his effort went wide.
Msida threatened again on 32 minutes but Daniel Theuma missed a good cross from Clint Micallef, hitting the ball badly and wide.
The Saints drew first blood on 35 minutes with an excellent goal. Fabio Cauchi sent in an inviting cross, and Adrian Farrugia hit home first time past a bewildered Attard.
Three minutes later, it could have been 2-0 but Daniel Theuma’s effort hit the upright with Attard beaten.
On 46 minutes, Msida doubled their lead when Porceddu made the most of an Aquilina defensive lapse to give his side a 2-0 lead.
At the start of the second half, Msida ascertained themselves of a place in the last eight when Daniel Theuma received the ball on the edge of the area to advance and score with a low shot.
Almost on the hour, Senglea pulled one back through a Malcolm Tirchett penalty.
On 70 minutes, Theuma hit over from four metres and soon after it was Adrian Farrugia who hit wide from the edge of the area. Two minutes from the end, Theuma had a header shaving the upright following a good Micallef cross.