Nikolay Filipov was Mellieha’s inspirational player as he scored a hat-trick to help his side overcome Msida St. Joseph 8-2 in the first round of matches from the Futsal First Division was played at the Corradino Pavillion.

It was a dream start for Mellieha who were making their official debut in the local futsal scene. Moreover the other newcomers Attard, Lija Athletic and Mdina Knights finished unbeaten in their first league commitments.

Bulgarians Radoslav Kovachev and Nikolay Filipov were a constant menace for the Msida defence as Mellieha produced a remarkable second half to bag the first three points at stake.

The first half was a balanced encounter as Mellieha always took the lead but Msida found time to pull two goals back to pile some sort of pressure to their opponents. However in the second half, Mellieha completely dominated the proceedings and scored five goals to rubberstamp their first official victory of the season.

Nikolay Filipov scored a hat-trick, Joseph Vella netted a brace while Radoslav Kovachev, Josef Balzan and Ian Cilia added more goals for Mellieha. Alan Micallef and Gary Zerafa scored the two goals for Msida.

Mdina and Mqabba shared the spoils in an entertaining 3-3 draw. Etienne Rodo, Thomas Consoli and Wayne Mizzi put their names on the score sheet for Mqabba. Cleaven Portelli, Matthew Gatt and Dalziel Bugeja scored Mdina’s first official goals in the Futsal First Division to level matters for their team and gain the first point of the season.

Lija Athletic had a great debut after beating Luqa St. Andrew’s 5-3. A brace by Zeljko Anicic plus goals by Jeremy Cutajar, Aleksandar Ribic and Jean Bert Gatt gave Lija victory. Andrew Scerri, Isaac Delmar and Alan Chetcuti replied for Luqa.

Attard and Birzebbugia shared a lively 2-2 draw in an evenly balanced match. The former were marking their first appearance in the First Division scored their goals through Aaron Camilleri and Duncan Bonello.