Current Premier League leaders Marsaxlokk are assured of a four-point lead at the end of the first round even if the match between Floriana and Pieta still has to be played to complete the ninth round of fixtures.

Their expected victory over lowly Marsa and Msida’s sharing of the spoils with Sliema Wanderers enabled them to extend their previous two-point lead to four and Brian Talbot will certainly be hoping that his side will continue to follow the victory track in the club’s efforts to lift their first ever Malta championship title this season.

The match of the week between rivals Valletta and Birkirkara finished in a 1-0 victory for the citizens courtesy of a last-gasp penalty goal from Sebastian Monesterolo.

In the other match, Hibernians, as expected, beat lowly St George’s in the Cottonera derby to remain in touch with the leadership, albeit six points behind Marsaxlokk.

The southern seasiders, however, had to wait till the second half, to turn their obvious superiority into the goals that ascertained their win.

But had Marsa remained with their full complement on the field of play – they had Dalli dismissed near the end of the first half – it could have been a different story.

The yellows had Daniel Bogdanovic to thank for his splendid performance. He led the side to their win and is certainly being their inspiration, especially now that Andre Schembri is ruled out for several weeks after being injured in the recent friendly match between Malta and Lithuania.

Yet, Marsaxlokk must be aware that they are still far away from title, though there is nothing wrong about them starting dreaming from now. Especially if they win their forthcoming match against champions Birkirkara on Saturday.

The Stripes failed to get back on track last Saturday and missed all the points after going down to their arch rivals Valletta.

It was a last-gasp (added injury time) penalty that made all the difference even if Stephen Azzopardi’s boys dominated for most of the match.

However, despite their dominance, Birkirkara’s lack of striking power was obvious. While Etienne Barbara was unlucky not to score on a few occasions, for newcomer D. La Rossa from Argentina, who has taken the place of Hatem Saib among their ranks, it was a difficult start in his new surroundings and certainly needs more time to settle down before one can make any assessment on his potential.

In any case, the Stripes are now 10 points adrift of the leaders. It is a big gap and the Stripes need to overcome this crisis very quickly if they are to get back among the title contenders at the start of the second phase.

At present, they seem to be fighting a different battle alongside Sliema and Floriana – avoiding the Relegation Pool and squeezing into the Championship Pool. And they are waiting anxiously for the immediate return of some of their injured players, who include Michael Galea, Antoine Zahra, Roderick Briffa, Adrian Ciantar, Angelo Paradiso and Jean Paul Mifsud Triganza.

Valletta, now at full strength with the complete return of central defender Massimo Grima, showed that they will also be a tough nut to crack for any team challenging for the honours.

Although they were forced on the defensive for most of the time, they counter-attacked with a certain amount of danger, even if free-scoring Sebastian Monesterolo was only allowed one good run. But it was enough for the citizens to be awarded that penalty which he himself converted for the important three points.

The citizens showed confidence at the back even if it was the post which denied Birkirkara and Etienne Barbara, not to mention two good saves by Saviour Darmanin who kept the Stripes at bay.

Msida’s tag of revelation side this season was maintained as they obtained a draw from their difficult match against Sliema on Saturday.

The Saints should have won this match considering that they dominated for most of the time. But Daniel Nwoke and Ibrahim Babatunde were kept at bay by Murphy Akanji & Co and it had to be a late Farrugia goal which saved a point for them after Sliema had taken an 86th minute lead.

The Blues were on the verge of registering a victory under new coach Ray ‘Zazu’ Farrugia. When the usual Woods found the net on the 86th minute, it seemed as if the Wanderers had snatched victory, but it was not to be as Msida stormed back quickly to equalise.

Like Birkirkara, Sliema are finding the going tough. They also have a crisis of points. And at present, it seems as if they are likely to be involved in the battle to fight for the fifth and sixth places in the Championship Pool or to avoid the Relegation Pool with Birkirkara and Floriana, if things do not improve drastically in the second round.

It is also true that they are missing the services of midfielders Stefan Giglio and Zdenek Zvoboda, but it is also true that striker Ivan Woods is feeling quite lonely up front and needs more support.

Hibernians did well to get back to winning form, and they did not have to stretch themselves to obtain the points against St George’s.

Even if they had to wait till the second half to score their goals, the Paolites showed more determination than of late and that is a good omen for the forthcoming second round matches where they will be battling to get closer to the leaders.

For Marsa and St George’s, it was another difficult hurdle and as has been said before, they are both aware that their main aim is to win the points in the direct matches involving the clubs fighting to avoid the relegation zone, which was not the case this weekend.

Best player

Daniel Bogdanovic (Marsaxlokk)

The Marsaxlokk striker Daniel Bogdanovic is my pick this week after his excellent performance against Marsa where he scored another brace to lead his side to a comfortable 4-0 win.

Those two goals enabled Bogdanovic to move to the top of the goal-scorers’ list with 13 goals. At this rate, he will be challenging to beat all the goal-scoring records of the past.

Bogdanovic has shown one and all that he is a vastly talented player. He certainly has the goal instinct and can torment a defence on his own.

The scorers

MARSAXLOKK (28): D. Bogdanovic 13, A. Schembri 5, H. Doda 4, K. Sammut 3,C. Mamo, S. Bajada, I. Azzopardi (Floriana) og

MSIDA SJ (19): I.Babatunde 7, D. Nwoke 6, O. Zongo 2, I. P. Fenech, R. Baldacchino 2, T. Farrugia

VALLETTA (20): S. Monesterolo 12, G. Agius 2, K. Magro 2, B. Nisevic 2, D. Zarb, E. Uzeh

FLORIANA (14): T. Cilia 3, M. Micallef 3, W. Gomes 3, C. Caruana 2, A. Mifsud 2, C. Cassar,

HIBERNIANS (18): A. Cohen 5, T. Scerri 4, N. Chukunyere 3, P. C. Doffo 2, T. Caruana 2, U. Nwoko, A. Xuereb

BIRKIRKARA (16): J.P. Mifsud Triganza 7, E. Barbara 4, A. Paradiso, M. Calascione, L. Galea, MA Bonnici, H. Sbai

SLIEMA (14): I. Woods 9, R. Bajada 2, A. Muscat 2, J. Chetcuti

MARSA (4): A. Ewurun 2, B. Zammit, E. Yantchev

ST GEORGE’S (3): S. Sciberras, E. do Nascimento, L. Pace

PIETA H. (5): D. Theuma 2, A. Decesare 2, A. Debono

Next matches

Saturday 2 December (at Ta’ Qali)

2pm Floriana-Pieta H.

4pm Marsaxlokk-Birkirkara

Sunday 3 December (at Victor Tedesco Stadium)

12.45pm Msida SJ-Marsa

2.45pm St George’s-Sliema W.