Senglea A 1

San Gwann 2

San Gwann obtained a surprise victory against second placed Senglea who now see their promotion hopes being severely dented by this defeat. San Gwann were rewarded for their first half performance with Achukwu and Decesare playing a blinder.

However Senglea stormed forward in the second half especially after they reduced the arrears. This defeat halts a positive run of eight matches by Senglea, who remain in second place but their rivals, Mosta, St. George's and Hamrun yesterday received an unexpected boost, and next Saturday's Cottonera derby against St George's will surely be an attraction.

San Gwann's first attempt came after five minutes with Decesare shooting wide. On 23 minutes Wilfred Spiteri made his way inside the area and his final shot was blocked by defender David Aquilina.

In the 36th minute San Gwann had a great opportunity with Decesare doing all the spade work before passing to Achukwu whose beautiful shot hit the upright. Two minutes later Decesare and Achukwu combined well with the latter shooting over the bar after controlling the ball well.

Senglea had a Simon Aquilina header going over the bar, and Kenneth Abela was brought down in the area with the Sengleans appealing for a penalty. On 42 minutes San Gwann obtained a penalty when Achukwu was brought down by Edon and from the resultant penalty Kevin Loughborough made no mistake with a grounder.

San Gwann made it two on the start of the second half when Decesare scored with a low shot after receiving a long ball from Alan Borg. Three minutes later, however, Senglea reduced the gap when Timmy Thomas pounced on a San Gwann defensive lapse to beat Bartolo.

Senglea gained in confidence and Grech missed a sitter in front of goal, with Kenneth Abela heading wide from an ideal position two minutes later.

Senglea dominated the last part of the match with San Gwann making a bold effort to keep their opponents at bay. Senglea came close in the 90th minute when David Aquilina's header hit the post with Bartolo beaten.

Naxxar L 1

Mqabba 0

It was surely a day of surprises yesterday as following second placed Senglea's defeat, it was the leaders' turn in the second match to succumb against lowly Naxxar.

Naxxar played an intelligent match, mainly in defence, where they had to defend for a substantial part of the game. Naxxar scored their winner in one of their rare attacks and the leaders had nothing to show at the end even though they domintaed in the final stges. This shock result leaves this interesting and strange league in the balance with practically all teams in the promotion hunt and in the relegation zone.

Mqabba had the first chances with Keith Mallia hesitating in front of goal and with the Naxxar goalkeeper saving brilliantly a Busuttil freekick.

On 30 minutes Naxxar scored the only goal when Victor Bellia scored with a low shot with the Mqabba rearguard having an afternoon nap.

In the second half as was expected Mqabba reverted to their opponents' half with Busuttil missing in front of goal and with Cini saving off Muscat.

In the dying minutes Anywanna went close to the equaliser on two occasions, but in both chances the Naxxar goalkeeper excelled, saving his side a surprise and valuable win.