Birkirkara maintained their positive run with a seventh consecutive win and clean sheet as they defeated Naxxar Lions 2-0 at the Centenary Stadium on Saturday.

In the last seven matches, the Stripes scored nineteen without reply and moved from ninth to joint-third as they now share the third spot with Gzira United.

For Naxxar, this defeat, leaves them third from bottom, one point behind St. Andrews and three ahead of Tarxien.

Following a goalless first half, Birkirkara took the lead thanks to a Terence Agius effort from the edge of the area which beat goalkeeper Christoph Nicht with the ball ending in the bottom right corner.

The Stripes doubled the score on the 57th minute when Carlos Alberto served Fernando Barbosa and off the latter’s cross, Waldemar Jesus Acosta Ferreira headed the ball home.

NAXXAR Christoph Nicht, Rafael Santos Henriques Caetano, Mailson Souza Duarte Junior, Jean Diego Moser (69’ Mark Fenech), Manolito Micallef, Daren Falzon (70’ Joel Ellul), Duane Bonnici, Daniel Mateo Bustos, Angus Buhagiar (84’ Ryan Gilmour Cassar), Oussenyou Elhadji Ndoye, Yuri de Jesus Messias.
Coach: Oliver Spiteri

B’KARA Kristijan Naumovski, Fernando Barbosa Pereira, Mislav Andjelkovic, Jake Grech (90’ Nicholas Farrugia), Kurt Zammit, Nikola Vukanac, Carlos Alberto da Silva Goncalves, Waldemar Jesus Acosta Ferreira (83’ Gianluca Zammit), Srdjan Dimitrov (87’ Ayrton Attard), Cain Attard, Terence Agius.
Coach: Paul Zammit

Referee: Eman Grech
Assistant Referees: Duncan Sultana, Thomas Debono
Fourth Official: Stefan Pace
Yellow Cards: Agius, Buhagiar
BOV Player of the Match: Srdjan Dimitrov
Attendance at the Centenary Stadium: 540

Meanwhile at the Hibernians Stadium, Floriana returned to winning ways as they defeated Hamrun Spartans 1-0.

The Greens therefore moved back on track following back-to-back defeats to Hibernians and St. Andrews and now lie in fifth place. The Spartans, on the other hand, suffer a second consecutive defeat and have now gone four matches without a win.

Juninho Cabral scored the all-important goal on the 27th minute when he advanced on the right before beating goalkeeper Jake Galea with a diagonal shot.

The Brazilian midfielder could have added another in the second half but was unlucky to hit the upright.

Sixteen minutes from time, Hamrun were reduced to ten men as Thiaguinho was sent off by referee Malcolm Spiteri after receiving two yellow cards.

FLORIANA Ini Etim Akpan (68′ Matthew Grech 68), Sebastian Nayar, Enrico Pepe, Enzo Ruiz, Steve Pisani, Juninho Cabral, Alex Cini, Arthur Henrique Oyama, Dylan Grima, Mario Fontanella, Emerson Marcelina.
Coach: JJ Aquilina

HAMRUN Jake Galea, Marco Criaco, Daniel Zerafa, Cristian Zaccardo, Guilherme Felipe de Castro, Karl Micallef (55′ Lydon Micallef), Arthur Faria Machedo, Thiago Espindola De Paula, Tiago Souza da Silveira, Dale Camilleri (66′ Triston Caruana), Alex Nilsson,
Coach: Jacques Scerri

Referee: Malcolm Spiteri
Assistant Referees: Edward Spiteri, Dusan Petrovic
Fourth Official: Sandro Spiteri
Yellow Cards: J. Cabral, E. Marcelina, M. Fontanella (F), T. Espindola De Paula (2), G. F. De Castro, A. Faria Machedo (H)
Red Cards: T. Espindola De Paula (H)
BOV Player of the Match: Juninho Cabral
Attendance at the Hibernians Stadium: 480