Zebbug R-Pembroke A            1-1

Żebbuġ R: J. Borg, S. Schembri, R. Vella, D. Pace, S. Buhagiar, B. Muscat, C. Brincat, J. Caetano da Silva, J. Farrugia, I. de Rocha Souza, B. Gregori de Souza.

Pembroke A: K. Gerada, K. Borg, G. Muscat, G. Azzopardi (J.P. Mifsud Triganza 64'), D. Camilleri (A. Hili 71'), Z. Grech, T. Fenech, W. Moacir da Rosa, I. Misan, Y. Tonna, G. Claudio da Silva.

Referee: Alex Johnson

Two goals inside the first ten minutes of the match decided this encounter between two teams in the middle of the table. It was an interesting encounter, keenly contested and the result was a fair one.

Pembroke took the lead on five minutes when Kurt Borg scored with a low drive after a fine personal move. But Pembroke's joy was short lived when five minutes later Caetano da Silva was floored in the area and the same player scored from the penalty spot.

Near the end of the first half Zebbug almost took the lead but Caetano da Silva's effort was cleared off the goal line.

In the second half both sides had several scoring chances to grab the three points at stake but had to settle for a draw in the end.

 

Santa Lucia-Lija A       2-1

Santa Lucia: R. Caruana, M. Caruana, N. Spiteri, J. Usuga Mendoza, J. Suda, K. Ante Rosero (W. Martinez Ibarra 85'), J. Magri Overend (P. Lapira 46'), P. Teixeira Maia, L. Galea, K. Camilleri, N. Borg.

Lija A: L. Bonnici, C. Cassar, D. Scerri, E. Beu, A. Sammut, A. Borg, A. Bello Osagie, M. Clinch, A. Azzopardi, A. Galea (D. Mintoff 77'), K. Kuroki.

Referee: Fyodor Zammit

Santa Lucia consolidated their second spot in the standings with a hard earned victory over a never say die Lija side. Lija smarting from a 4-1 drubbing against Zejtun, played a diligent match with a very good defensive setup.

Santa Lucia who parted ways with promising Brandon Paiber who joined Floriana, took some time to settle down and were not in their best evening yesterday.

They even forged ahead with a disputed penalty on fifteen minutes and this forced Santa Lucia to attack in full swing. However Santa Lucia were very erratic and Lija missed a couple of chances to double the score.

In the second half the introduction of Paul Lapira paid off as he scored what proved to be the winner on 62 minutes, two minutes after an own goal by Daniel Scerro had levelled matters.

 

Qrendi-Zejtun C          1-4

Qrendi: J. Farrugia, M. Farrugia, B. Bondin (D. Micallef 71’), N. Falzon (D. Sammut 46’), R. Dalli, Z. Bowman, D. Zarb, J. Spiteri, J.P. Da Silva Vargas (D. Martini 87’), C. Quaranta, J. Silveira Da Silva.

Żejtun C: G. Zammit, C. Giordemaina, E. Vella (G. Sultana 46’), A. Smeir (I. Azzopardi 81’), J. Castano, D. Albanese, R. De Fex Marriaga, B. Farrugia, N. Tabone, R. Spiteri (A. Carabott 67’), A. Farrugia.

Referee: Daniel Portelli

Zejtun registered their third successive win with another good display to make another leap forward in the standings. Against a well organised Qrendi side, Zejtun started like a house on fire and built a two-goal cushion in the first thirty minutes with two Castano goals.

However Zejtun eased the pressure in the remaining minutes and Qrendi managed to pull one back just before the break with a Ryan Dalli header. 

On the resumption Qrendi went in search of the equaliser but suffered a goal in a fast break with Castano dribbling past the goalkeeper before slotting home from an acute angle. From then on Zejtun never looked back, easily controlling their lead and even increasing the score with a Clayton Giordemaina header. .

Johan Castano was Zejtun’s hero scoring a hat trick, but ex-Marsa player Rafael de Fex Marriaga was outstanding, practically having a say in all of Zejtun’s goals.