The leading trio in the FXDD Premier Division table maintained their winning streak in their respective matches played during the week to continue their quest for the Championship.
Champions Hibernians had to sweat more than expected to beat Hamrun Spartans 9-8. Three braces by Xavier Saliba, Jose Lopez and Melvin Borg together with goals by Celino Alves, Mark Zammit and David Bobokhidze helped the Paolites get the three points. Spanish Cristian Cuadros Silva proved to be Hamrun’s inspirational player after hitting the target five times. Mohammed Elamari, Martin Cacciatolo and Martin Svihalek added more goals which however were not enough despite their positive performance.
Photo: Copyright © Joe Borg
Luxol dominated Pembroke Athleta 8-2 to stay second in the table. William Barbosa and Ibrahim Tarik scored a poker to help their team obtain their fourteenth success of the season.
Balzan quickly replied to their rivals’ success after seeing off San Gwann 3-0. It was a positive performance for Gabriel Dobre’s boys who scored through Boycho Marev, Andrea Dan and Nicola Del Re.
Zabbar St. Patrick had the better of Qormi 9-2 to join Pembroke in the fourth place of the table. Radoslav Kovachev was the hero for Zabbar after netting four times for the Southsiders.
In other matches from the Relegation Pool, Vittoriosa Stars beat Zurrieq 13-6 while Birzebbugia St. Peter’s managed to beat narrowly Swieqi United 3-2.
In the FXDD First Division, Valletta moved to the top of the FXDD First Division with a fine 4-3 win against Kalkara as Qrendi’s title ambitions were hit massively by a 7-4 defeat against Msida St. Joseph.
The Citizens, who obtained their eleventh victory in a row, went on top of the table for the first time this season and gave a clear message to all promotion contenders that they are now the team to beat. Ilija Milivojsa hit a brace while Charlton Scicluna and Renald Formston scored the other goals for Valletta.
Msida defied all odds as they defeated Qrendi 7-4. It was an incredible performance by the winners who produced good futsal and stunned their opponents who lost concentration after Msida’s comeback. After gaining a double advantage, Qrendi seemed to head to another routine victory but a great comeback from Msida saw them turning the result into their favour. Chris Cutajar was Msida’s inspirational player as he found the net four times. A brace by Thomas Consoli and Joel Felice completed the mission for the winners. Antonello Brincat (2 goals), Kevin Vella and Bertram Azzopardi put their name on the score sheet for Qrendi. For the record this was Msida’s second consecutive success with Qrendi suffering their fourth defeat of the season.
Fourth-placed Gzira United did not take advantage of this weekend’s results as they were held in a 3-3 draw by Siggiewi.
Marsaskala obtained their ninth success of the season when they saw off bottom placed Santa Lucia 8-2.