Vittoriosa's efforts for a promotion at the end of this season were temporarily halted, when the team from Cottonera suffered their second consecutive loss against Melita, having obtained only one point from their last three outings. Even if Melita suffered a goal early in the match, they were able to equalise a short time after, and rising to the occasion, turned the result in their favour, securing an important three points.

The first few moments of the match seemed to indicate that the team from Cottonera was going to prevail over the opponents, and after just five minutes, Spell's effort went slightly high over the woodwork. Two minutes later, Pereira's powerful strike from the edge of the area, after recieving from Lopes Fereira, went inches wide.

Vittoriosa opened the scoring 15 minutes into the game, when following a confusion amongst Melita's defence, Ryan Sell tapped the ball at the back of the net past goalkeeper Sapiano.

Vittoriosa's lead was short-lived, because ten minutes later, Melita equalised thanks to a header by George Gribbon from a freekick by Johan Vukanic. Melita controlled the match from then onwards, and dictated play for the rest of the match, where they never allowed their adversaries to come back. They were close to taking the lead a few minutes later, when a freekick by Fereira went slightly high.

Ten minutes before the break, Melita took the lead for the first time in the match, and once again it was George Gribbon who hit home, this time from a freekick by Cornago San Pedro.

The second half was also played at a very quick pace, where Martin Gregory's side continued to emphasise their tactical superiority. In the 56th minute, Emilio Cornago San Pedro scored Melita's third goal, when he surprised Vella with a powerful shot from a direct freekick. A few minutes later, Terpougoff saw his effort go out by inches.

Vittoriosa had a unique opportunity to come back into the match in the 62nd minute, where Pereira's header from Buttigieg's freekick was saved by custodian Sapiano. A few minutes later, Melita went close to increasing their lead, when a freekick by Gribbon hit the crossbar.

Melita sealed the match six minutes from stoppage time thanks to Johan Vukanic, who surprised the Vittoriosa goalkeeper with a lovely long-distance drive from an acute angle. The score could have easily been much higher in favour of Melita, where in the very last action of the match, Vella denied Micallef with a splendid punch.

Dingli Swallows 0

Rabat Ajax 1

Rabat triumphed over Dingli to rise to second place in the table, just one point after current leaders Pieta'. Just one goal is all Rabat needed to win the derby, thus registering their fourth win this season, which certainly delighted the numerous supporters present at the Victor Tedesco Stadium yesterday.

Dingli were more agressive and based their play on physical strength, as opposed to Rabat whose game was very tactical, with the ball being kept on the turf most of the time, and with very few high crosses, where Joseph Caruana was a key figure in Rabat's midfield. Digli were more dangerous than their opponents, being the team creating the most scoring opportunities, yet luck was not on Dingli's side today.

Rabat had a good start, and after 11 minutes went close to scoring, when after recieving from David Azzopardi, Arlindo Arlindo Rusemi tried his luck, with the ball being cleared away by Francis Owusu.

Dingli's reaction was immediate, and in the 23rd minute a freekick by Rigers Ceka was coverted into a corner by Rabat's defence. From the subsequent corner, Warren Chircop's header went inches wide.

Five minutes before the break, Rabat missed a golden opportunity, when after a precise through pass by Adam Smeir to the unmarked Ryan Micallef, who had only the custodian separating him from the net, the latter's shot went high. A few minutes later, David Azzopardi's powerful drive from outside the area was cleared by Jeffrey Farrugia. On the half hour mark, Leontiv Konda fled Rabat's defence, and had his shot from inside the box cleared by Sean Mintoff.

In the 55th minute, Konda's tenacious freekick was saved by Christopher Schembri, before any of the Dingli front-runners could hit home.

The only goal of the match came in the 71st minute, when Airlindo Rustemi's header on a cross by David Azzopardi took Farrugia by surprise. One minute later, Rabat were close again, when a corner by Adam Smeir looked to have beeten goalkeeper Farrugia again, but the ball was clered from the line by Roderick Briffa.

In the third minute of injury time, Dingli were down to ten men, when Franes Owusu was sent off for an ugly challange on substitute Justin Felice