Lija Athletic registered a very important win against Senglea to gain three precious points and move from the last two places in the division. In fact Lija are now a point over relegation rivals Naxxar, 90 minutes from the end of the comeptition.
Senglea thus lost their residual promotion hopes against a highly motivated side.
Lija Athletic were more aggressive in the opening minutes, with Senglea on the defensive. They opened the score with their first shot at goal on 19 minutes when midfielder Alan Ellul lobbed from the edge of the area beating a surprised George Attard.
On the half hour Senglea missed their best chance when a Simon Aquilina shot from close range was blocked by Mercieca and Jason Borg shot incredibly over the bar from the rebound.
Just before the break Lija were unlucky when a header by Calabretta beat Attard but was blocked on the goal line by defender Erin Azzopardi.
In the second half a Lawrence Attard header slightly missed the crossbar, and on the hour Clint Caruana hit the side netting after receiving from Babolayefa.
Lija put their minds at rest ten minutes from the end when Anicic shot beautifully home from a short freekick taken by Antignolo.St Patrick 2
Tarxien R 2
The much awaited clash between St Patrick and Tarxien ended in a spectacular 2-2 draw, a result that practically eliminates both teams from the tight promotion race.
The match had a dramatic finale when St Patrick started to lose players in the last 15 minutes. The Saints, in fact, finished the match in eight players. However, St Patrick were still able to take the lead with nine players, but finally Tarxien salvaged a point.
No one would have imagined such a finish as the match was played in very good sporting spirit. However some decisions by the referee left much to be desired, sparking off some reactions from the Zabbar players, leading to a series of yellow cards that led to three players being sent off.
After only a few seconds St Patrick were in front when Alistair Buhagiar beat Anthony Curmi with a low shot from the edge of the area.
Tarxien were clearly rocked after suffering such an early goal. However although showing the better football St Patrick failed to capitalise and kill off their opponents' ambitions.
Tarxien had no answer to Costa Brazilino's flair, with Scerri and Tanti creating danger whenever they got possession of the ball.
On 20 minutes Mark Tanti tried his luck from the edge of the area and minutes later St Patrick went close with a great Tanti-Scerri move with the former's shot brilliantly saved by Curmi.
Curmi was again called into action on 35 minutes when he blocked a rather weak shot by Clayton Micallef after another brilliant move by Tanti. Tarxien pressed harder in the dying minutes and after a Farrugia cross shot went over the bar, they were awarded a penalty just before the break. Gordon Failla tripped Alan Tabone just inside the area and from the resultant penalty the same Alan Tabone made no mistake.
Tarxien introduced striker Shead for the second period, while St Patrick were without Costa Brazilino, and the Saints created the first danger with Simon Zerafa blasting high from an ideal position.
However the game took a twist of events in the last 15 minutes when St Patrick lost Matthew Fleri Soler and Robert Cassar, both sent off. But with nine players St Patrick managed to forge ahead when Buhagiar passed to Gilbert Scerri who scored from close range. Scerri¹s jubilation cost him the second yellow card and the Saints had to play the last 12 minutes with eight players.
As was expected Tarxien stormed forward, but had to wait till the 93rd minute when a Kurt Zammit cross shot deceived Azzopardi and Kurt Coleiro scored from close range a dramatic equaliser.