After trashing Msida SJ 6-0 in the Trophy competition ten days ago, Pieta again beat their rivals with a lesser margin, to obtain the first points and first victory of the season.

The match was a one way traffic affair with Pieta always in the driving seat and Msida always on the receiving end. Pieta should have won by a larger margin but their strikers missed a couple of sitters in front of goal.

Msida failed to score yet again, this was their eighth competitive match without scoring a single goal. They can still recover their position in the table, even though the four-point penalty seems to have killed all their hopes.

Pieta stormed forward from the very first minutes, aiming for another goal spree. But it was apparent from the start that Pieta’s strikers were not in their best form. After missing two good chances they took the lead on six minutes through Zack Muscat who received the ball from Quilan Refalo.

Pieta’s constant attacks produced other easy scoring chances with the most noticeable being missed by Refalo all alone in front of goal. Msida’s only effort in the first half came from a long distance shot by Neil Curmi which was well saved by Montfort.

On the resumption Pieta were even more aggressive and should have sealed off the issue within the first fifteen minutes with Bandeira, Jurgen Spiteri and Refalo again missing easy chances.

On 62 minutes Bandeira made his way inside the area but his effort slightly missed the top corner of the net. On the other end Msida almost obtained an equaliser when Adrian Farrugia’s point blank shot was brilliantly saved by Montfort. And two minutes later Pieta put their minds at rest.

Bandiera created havoc on the left flank and passed towards Quilan Refalo who could not miss this one as he easily planted the ball home. The match was surely dead and buried and Pieta continued to attack in search of further goals. But it was not to be as their strikers were anything but sharp in front of goal.

Msida’s dismal performance was complete when substitute Donald Gatt was sent off for dissent.

Pieta H M. Montfort, C. Spiteri (G. Busuttil), R. Mifsud, B. Sciberras, Q. Refalo, R. L. Bandiera, S. Grech (T. Agius), S. Lijeskic, Z. Muscat, C. Cassar, J. Pisani (L. Mallia),

Msida SJ J. Alden, K. Saliba (A. Formosa), L. Micallef, S. Phiram, M. Borda, R. Caruana, R. Xuereb, A. Farrugia, A. Grech (D. Gatt), O. Enyi, N. Curmi (C. Cioffi)

Referee Esther Azzopardi