Front runners Valletta and Hibernians won their matches easily at the weekend and therefore maintained the pace at the top, but third placed Floriana were dealt a setback to their championship title hopes after a defeat against Mosta. They are now nine points adrift of Valletta. Birkirkara are the new occupiers of the fourth place after beating neighbours Balzan Youths convincingly in the central Malta derby. Apart from Balzan, Qormi also faltered. The Yellow Blacks remain in seventh place, four points behind Balzan. At the other end, Tarxien gained a good point from a draw with Sliema, while Mqabba took all three from their direct clash against Hamrun.

Henry Brincat takes a look at what happened in the 19th round the past weekend.

As was widely expected, league leaders Valletta found little difficulty in disposing of bottom placed Marsaxlokk.

The citizens emerged easy 5-2 winners on a day which saw international striker Michael Mifsud returning to his best form, even scoring a hat-trick in the process.

The match had little or no story even if Marsaxlokk must have been more than satisfied that they managed to pierce City’s defence twice through Trevor Templeman.

Considering everything, they never expected to get away with anything positive against the champions and current league leaders. Yet they remain firmly entrenched at the bottom of the standings.

A day earlier, Hibernians did well to beat Qormi with two second half goals to keep the pace with the leaders, even if at that stage, they had managed to reduce the four-point gap to just one point.

The Paolites once again showed their true worth against Qormi who remain in seventh place but are now in a worse position in so far as the Championship Pool is concerned.

With Floriana surprisingly losing their match against Mosta on Saturday, the Paolites therefore consolidated their second place in the standings.

The Greens were shocked by this Mosta side which is now pushing their challenge for a Top Six berth, given their current positive run. With three more matches to go they are still six points adrift of the sixth place, but in the game of football, anything can happen.

Mosta showed that they have enough determination and courage to give anybody a good run for their money.

Moreover, it is evident that in Obinna Obiefule, they have made the best bargain in the January transfer market. His goals have helped the side move up from the bottom of the standings to eighth place and are now only three points adrift of seventh placed Qormi.

Floriana were shocked by that last gasp goal which halted their long positive run.

But then, they were tasting some of their own medicine. In the first round clash, they had won 3-2, overturning a 2-0 deficit with seven minutes to go by scoring three goals.

This was perhaps one of the poorest performances by Floriana in several months. They seemed to be lifeless and failed to show the usual coordination and flair in midfield with Christian Caruana out of the team.

Sliema Wanderers missed a good opportunity to overtake Balzan and make the fourth place their own on Friday evening when they were held to a 1-1 draw by lowly Tarxien Rainbows.

The Wanderers, in actual fact, were made to fight very hard by the Rainbows after Josef Mifsud received marching orders following a second yellow card.

From that point onwards, the Blues had to struggle to keep the Rainbows at bay.

One might say that in the circumstances, Sliema managed to win a point while the Rainbows lost two.

Birkirkara finally gave their fans something to shout about as they crushed Balzan Youths 4-0 in the derby between the two neighbours.

From the start, it was evident that Birkirkara wanted all the points at stake from this encounter, not only to move closer to a Top Six berth, but also to make peace with their fans who seem to have deserted them following their recent disappointing performances.

The return to the side of Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza triggered their victory, but all in all, it was a collective effort as Paul Zammit’s boys finally showed their real worth. Scoring goals had become very difficult for Birkirkara this season, but following this good win, they seem to be back on track.

Balzan left the pitch heavily beaten and bitterly disappointed. After their good run of positive results which had enabled them to climb to fourth place in the standings, they finally stumbled – and badly.

One sincerely hopes that coach Ivan Zammit will be able to lift his players’ morale as quickly as possible. The last three matches in this phase will determine whether they will play in the Championship or the Relegation Pool in the second part of the season.

With Birkirkara and Sliema now favourites to clinch a berth in the Top Six, the battle for the last berth now seems to be restricted to two clubs – Balzan and Qormi.

They are separated by four points when nine are still up for grabs. Balzan seem to have the most difficult programme as they now have to face Floriana, followed by Valletta and finally Tarxien Rainbows. On the other hand, Qormi still have to face Mqabba, Sliema and Marsaxlokk.

The match between Mqabba and Hamrun Spartans was a direct clash between two clubs seeking to win the points which will be very useful for second phase purposes in the Relegation Pool.

The verdict went Mqabba’s way in the final six minutes of the match as Clive Mizzi’s team made the most of some lapses in the Hamrun rearguard to gain three important points.

With Zammit handing in his resignation and Stefan Sultana taking charge of the Spartans, the Hamrun fans are now hoping that the side will show improvement in their struggle against relegation.

Of course, it is still not yet over. But in this lower end of the table, Mqabba and Mosta now have 20 points, five more than Tarxien and Hamrun. Marsaxlokk are the wooden spoonists with just 11 points.

Best player

JP Mifsud Triganza

(Birkirkara)

It has been a very welcome return for Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza to his former club Birkirkara. In fact, he is also my pick for this weekly honour.

Last Sunday he started the match in preference to Spanish striker Moises Avila Perez, the club’s top scorer so far this season. He repaid Zammit’s confidence in his abilities with a splendid performance that enabled the side to at least temporarily forget all about the recent disappointments.

The former Sliema striker also scored his first goal for the Stripes as he showed that he could be his new side’s saviour this season.

Top scorers

18 - Edison Luis dos Santos (Hibernians)

15 – Obinna Obiefule (Mosta)

11 - Clayton Failla (Hibernians)

9 - Joseph Farrugia (Qormi), Moises Avila Perez (Birkirkara)

8 - Alfred Effiong (Valletta), D. Rocha dos Santos (Valletta), Danial Mitev (Sliema), Jorge Pereira (Qormi), Bojan Mamic (Mqabba)

7 - Thiago Mazzitelli (Mqabba), William Barbosa (Valletta), Michael Mifsud (Valletta)