Marsaxlokk 1

Hamrun S 6

Anderson Ribeiro and Kevin Sammut scored three goals each in a pleasing partnership of strikers as Hamrun Spartans outclassed and outplayed sorry Marsaxlokk in their second match of the Relegation Pool.

This was a convincing victory for the Spartans, who showed in the process that they have the determined to put the relegation issue behind them as early as possible. They now move to second place in the Relagation Pool, above Tarxien and Mosta, with the latter having a game in hand.

Marsaxlokk failed to repeat their previous performance against Qormi and they were made to pay for their inept defending as Hamrun ran riot. The introduction of Trevor Templeman and Clive Brincat for the second half came too late for the Southseasiders as Hamrun had already inflicted all the damage, taking a comfortable three-goal lead by halftime.

Hamrun were quick out of the blocks and raided the Marsaxlokk fort from kick off. They went close after six minutes from a Grima corner, which Shields headed against the bar with a deflection from keeper Cassar and as the ball came to Spiteri, he delivered a cross which Ribeiro headed narrowly wide.

The Spartans forged ahead two minutes later. Spiteri headed Shields’ cross in the path of Kevin Sammut who was allowed ample space inside the Marsaxlokk area to beat keeper Cassar.

Hamrun kept the initiative and towards the quarter hour Camilleri’s corner rebounded off the far post and the ball landed safely in the keeper’s hands.

Marsaxlokk, who had been pinned inside their own half, showed up with a Staskovic free kick midway through the half, but Oladutun failed to make contact. And then Hamrun’s keeper Borg had to rush off his line to smother the danger as Oladutun chased a long pass by Staskovic.

Spiteri fluffed a good chance with an erratic conclusion when put clear by Sammut. But Hamrun’s second goal looked inevitable and came towards the half hour. Anderson Ribeiro dribbled his way past Borg inside the area and scored with a low shot that hit the innerside of the post.

Hamrun practically closed the game three minutes before the break. Sammut played a through ball inside the area for Ribeiro to apply the finish.

The goals kept flowing after the restart. Hamrun scored their fourth hardly two minutes into the second half when Anderson Ribeiro connected to Sammut’s cross from the left to beat the keeper with a glancing header and notch his hat-trick.

But Marsaxlokk hit one back towards the hour. On Pedroza’s cross from the left, Nemanja Stoskovic, left completely unmarked, stooped low to beat keeper Borg with a firm header.

But Hamrun remained superior and on 62 minutes the uncontainable Ribeiro went through the Marsaxlokk defence and with the goalkeeper grounded, he shot against the foot of the post.

On 70 minutes, Grima did well to lob the ball over Clive Brincat but put his shot over while on the other end, Pedroza’s low drive went narrowly wide.

There was still time for Hamrun and Kevin Sammut to score two more goals in the final 17 minutes. Substitute Azzopardi delivered the cross from the right for Sammut to control, beat Stoskovic’s challenge and lob the ball over the helpless keeper.

Three minutes from time Sammut also completed the hat-trick. Hamrun were awarded a free kick inside the Marsaxlokk area for the keeper’s handling of a back pass. Grima played the ball low towards his unmarked team mate who scored with a routine low drive to finish with aplomb.

Marsaxlokk C. Cassar, M. Valeriani (T. Templeman), P. Borg (S. Borg), L. Agius, J. Brincat (C. Brincat), N. Stoskovic, S. Eboh, J.P. Farrugia, G. Caruana, P. Oladutun, A. Pedrozo

Coach A. Cremona

Hamrun S O. Borg, M. Grima, A. Ribeiro, L. Agius, K. Sammut, R. Hartwig, G. Spiteri (R. Mangion), D. Camilleri (L. Grech), S. Bonnici, G. Calabretta (G. Azzopardi), D. Shields

Coach S. Sultana

Referee M. Borg

Asst.refs E. Spiteri, C. Francalanza

4th official F. Zammit

Scorers K. Sammut 8, 73, 87, A. Ribeiro 29, 42, 47, N. Stoskovic 59

Yellow cards S. Borg, S. Eboh

Player of the match: Anderson Ribeiro (Hamrun S)

TMI top 3 1. A. Ribeiro 2. K. Sammut 3. N. Stoskovic