Valletta emerged with flying colours from their clash with Birkirkara on Saturday. Having to play for 50 minutes with a player less on the field of play, they were forced on the defensive by the Stripes, but the latter failed to penetrate and Valletta have successfully preserved their unbeaten record. It is now Floriana who have become their main challengers and next Sunday’s clash between the two teams will provide a clear indication on whether Valletta will have any more challengers on their way to the title. At the other end, Hibernians obtained a precious win over Sliema following which the relegation issue has more or less been resolved.

Henry Brincat analyses the situation when seven more matches still have to be played.

The title is perhaps still far away from City’s hands, but after their win against Birkirkara, it has moved closer to the capital.

With Floriana winning against Hamrun Spartans, it is now the Greens who have become City’s main challengers, but even so they have a massive seven-point gap to bridge.

The leeway can be reduced this weekend when the two teams meet, but if Floriana win, they will still remain four points adrift of the citizens.

Anyway, after seeing the 10-man citizens defeating Birkirkara, I cannot see them losing any of their remaining matches.

On Saturday, Valletta were definitely the best side on the field of play. Even when in 10 men, they adapted themselves well to the situation and even looked more dangerous than the Stripes whenever they attacked.

It is true that they were lucky when a Babatunde effort midway through the second half hit the post. A goal for Birkirkara at that juncture might have changed the whole story.

But in the circumstances, it was Valletta who created the better chances, both in the first and in the second halves.

Birkirkara have only themselves to blame. At times it seemed as if they were the team playing with a man less on the field of play. In fact, I thought Paul Zammit would leave Michael Galea in the dressing room at half time. The veteran striker was practically inexistent during the first half and I believe that is where Valletta held an edge over their rivals.

The Stripes did not take advantage of the situation that presented itself through the City camp. First there was the withdrawal through injury of Roderick Briffa. Then came Jamie Pace’s expulsion after a stupid incident for which the midfielder should shoulder full responsibility.

The absence of these two key players in the Valletta side should have lifted the morale of the Stripes players, but on the contrary, despite holding territorial advantage for most of the time, they rarely had any idea of how to penetrate the Valletta stronghold.

Jesmond Zerafa should be commended for putting his plans to perfection as he moved Gilbert Agius and Edmond Agius in front of the defence with Denny dos Santos, Scerri and Anderson creating havoc in the Stripes ranks whenever they had the chance to counter-attack.

If there was ever any doubt, this was a clear case of how Valletta are determined this year not to let the title slip out of their hands. Now that they moved a match closer to their ambition, I am sure they will do everything within their possibilities to make sure of it as quickly as possible.

Floriana – and to some extent Marsaxlokk – did well to win their weekend matches to keep their remote hopes for a title challenge alive.

The Greens registered a second consecutive win after the previous week’s 5-1 demolition of Tarxien. Now it was the turn of Hamrun to go under the Greens hatchet.

Or rather, it was Daniel Nwoke’s hatchet which killed all the Spartans hopes. The Nigerian striker is back on song. After his injury, he failed to score in the victory over Tarxien last week, but he scored the two goals on Saturday bringing his tally to eight goals since joining the Greens in the January transfer market.

The Floriana side has re-emerged from a difficult moment and their enthusiasm may yet lead them to an encouraging performance against Valletta this weekend.

The Greens are still believing in the title. They are aware that a victory will bring them four points away from their rivals with a whole second round to be played.

Of course, it is not so easy as it might seem to be. But mathematically, they can still do it although they will have to maintain their concentration till the end of the competition.

The Spartans had a bad afternoon. They were simply not the same side which, in the previous two weeks, had held first Valletta, and then Birkirkara, to 1-1 draws.

Their performance against Floriana was far from convincing. The team is now in bottom place, one point behind Tarxien, four points behind Birkirkara, five behind Marsaxlokk and six adrift of Floriana.

Although not everything is lost yet, it is apparent that they are now facing an uphill battle in search of a place in the Europa League next season via the league.

On Friday evening, Marsaxlokk also maintained the pace in the battle for second place as they beat Tarxien Rainbows who are now struggling to find the same form as that showed in the first phase.

Patrick Curmi’s side is certainly one of the most successful teams in the last few weeks. They have confirmed pre-season predictions that they will be a team difficult to beat and, despite their freak elimination from the FA Trophy, they are well in contention for a place in Europe via the second or third place.

Like Hamrun, Tarxien’s chances of a berth in next year’s Euopea League via the league are now receding quickly.

Against Marsaxlokk they simply found it difficult to penetrate. Even when they were awarded a penalty late in the match, they missed the chance to save a point as Pacheco saw his shot hitting the post and rebounding out to safety.

The relegation issue is almost over. Hibs’ 84th minute winner against Sliema on Friday night means that the Paolites, Sliema and Qormi have 14 points while Vittoriosa Stars lag behind a massive eight points when only four matches remain to be played by each team.

The victory was a big relief for the Paolites clan who have passed through one of their most disastrous seasons.

For Sliema, this was the first defeat since Danilo Doncic took over the reins of the side from Mark Marlow.

The Blues must recharge their batteries once again now to start another good run in the hope of doing well, not in the relegation pool, but in the FA Trophy competition – their only hope of landing themselves in the Europa League next season.

Best player

Gilbert Agius

(Valletta FC)

My pick this week falls on City skipper Gilbert Agius who, in my opinion, produced a five star performance in the match against Birkirkara on Saturday.

It was a performance which belied his veteran age. As in the past, he was an exemplary player to all his younger team-mates.

In fact, he confirmed he is still a valid schemer, both when the side was attacking and also when it was defending.

Agius was in command of the side’s midfield in the first half. Then he had to change his role to a defensive midfielder after Pace’s dismissal – and he responded with an equally impressive performance again.

Top scorers

14 goals T. Scerri (Valletta)

13 goals A. Effiong (Marsaxlokk)

11 goals G. Spiteri (Hamrun S.)

9 goals D. Rocha dos Santos (Valletta)

8 goals JP Mifsud Triganza (Sliema W.), D. Nwoke (Floriana)

7 goals C. Dos Santos Rodrigues (Tarxien R.), E. Lattes (Birkirkara)

6 goals I. Woods (Floriana), A. Ewurum, E. Dos Santos (Vittoriosa S.), D. Mariano Bueno, S. Pacheco de Oliveira (Tarxien R.), Jackson Lima, O. Obiefule (Sliema W.), Paul McManus (Hibernians)