Bottom side Mqabba met an irresistible force called Pieta Hotspurs yesterday and were hit by a goal riot. With a leaky defence in front of him, keeper Calleja conceded five goals before halftime and another in the second half as Mqabba were let down by some comic defending and suffered the heaviest league defeat so far this season.

Pieta, who had not scored a goal in their previous two outings, had their work finished early when they were three goals up by the first quarter hour against inferior opponents and then continued their goal deluge as they looked the more fluent and determined side.

With the driving energy of the returning Martin Deanov, who scored a hat-trick, as well as of Kondev, Galabav and Aquilina, the Hotspurs looked a transformed side from the one which lost to Hibernians in the previous match, although they were without keeper Montfort and Pulo. Herrera did not start the match and went in as a substitute.

Seven minutes was all Pieta needed to break the deadlock, despite Mqabba’s earlier good opportunity, missed by Muscat, who totally unmarked shot straight over keeper Vella’s stretched body, when Peycho Deliminkov deflected Deanov’s corner from the right past keeper Calleja.

On 12 minutes, Mqabba conceded the second goal, courtesy of some sloppy defending. Goodlip capitalized on Nogueira’s short back pass to his keeper on the edge of the area on the right to cross the ball low towards the middle for the unattended Martin Deanov to steer the ball into an open goal.

Hardly three minutes later Deanov again took possession on Deliminkov’s short free-kick and rifled an unstoppable shot at the top corner from outside the area.

Galvanised by such an early healthy lead, Pieta continued to dominate the proceedings against a demoralized Mqabba side, who still showed some inclination to go forward. Midway through the half, Galabov felled Muscat inside the area and Mqabba were awarded a penalty which Marcelo Pereira tucked away to score his fifth league goal.

That heralded Mqabba’s best patch in the first half and on the half hour Pereira back-heeled the ball from the bye line to Briffa, whose cross was narrowly missed by Muscat, standing alone in front of goal.

Mqabba’s revival was cut short three minutes later though, when substitute Edward Herrera played one-two with Mifsud before shooting low to beat the Mqabba keeper.

Pieta continued to pile up the goals. Martin Deanov scored his side’s fifth and completed a personal hat-trick two minutes before the break, shooting low Sammut’s pass beyond Calleja’s reach, to highlight the gulf between the two sides.

With the match as good as over, the second half had no bearing on the final outcome, as Pieta’s onslaught continued, producing only another goal, after Refalo had his goalbound effort cleared by defender Galea before the ball crossed the line, five minutes after the restart, and Kondev hit the foot of the post with a grounder on 70 minutes.

In between, Mqabba gave away another useless penalty after keeper Calleja fouled Svetlan Kondev and the latter beat him from the spot kick to complete Mqabba’s misery.

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Mqabba: K. Calleja, I. Nogueira, M.A. Psaila (M. Bonnici), M. Briffa, M. Pereira, C. Calleja, J.P. Muscat, C. Gatt Baldacchino, J. Mintoff (A. Busuttil), L. Galea (E. Borg), D. Zarb

Pieta H: M. Vella, P. Aquilina, P. Deliminkov, M. Deanov (S. Ciscaldi), Q. Refalo, C. Sammut (D. Gatt), S. Kondev, G. Goodlip (E. Herrera), D. Mifsud, R. Camilleri, R. Galabov

Referee: A. Azzopardi asst.refs: P. Agius, E. Spiteri 4th official: A. Arciola

Scorers: P. Deliminkov, M. Deanov (3), M. Pereira pen, E. Herrera, S. Kondev pen

Yellow cards: A. Busuttil, P. Aquilina, I. Nogueira

Player of the match: Martin Deanov (Pieta H)

TMI top three: 1. M. Deanov 2. D. Mifsud 3. R. Galabov