Balzan missed the opportunity to move, at least temporarily, in second place after being held in a 1-1 draw by Pietà Hotspurs. This was the second consecutive 1-1 draw for Balzan.
For the Hotspurs, this was yet another positive result after beating Valletta in their last outing and thanks to this result, they move one point ahead of Naxxar and two ahead of Zebbug.
Balzan coach Oliver Spiteri made no changes from the team which drew 1-1 with Floriana. On the other hand, Cain Attard and Gabriel da Silva replaced Cleaven Cassar and the suspended Rafael Xavier for Pietà.
Gianmarco Piccioni went close to putting Balzan ahead on 22 minutes with an angled shot from the left ending into a corner following a sligth deflection. Nine minutes later, Mifsud Triganza concluded a good move inside the area with a low shot which was parried by Cassar. Two minutes from the end of the first half, a goal-bound shot by Mifsud Triganza was cleared off the goal line by Christian Grech.
Pietà forged ahead five minutes in the second half. It was a perfect move led by Dylan Agius on the right who served Jurgen Pisani who squared the ball low for Luke Micallef to place the ball inside the empty net.
However five minutes later, Balzan restored equilibrium when a shot by Lydon Micallef was partially saved by David Cassar and off the rebound, Edison Bilbao Zarate slammed the ball home.
PIETÀ David Cassar, Cain Attard, Christian Grech, Leonardo Fortunato dos Santos, Jurgen Pisani, Kyle Cesare, Joao Gabriel da Silva (68′ Orosco Anonam), Terence Agius (37′ Luke Micallef), Nikola Tasic, Rafael Rodrigues da Silva, Claudio Daniel Frances (44′ Dylon Agius).
Subs not used: Miguel Montfort, Ayrton Mizzi, Orosco Ndubisi, Karl Micallef, Neil Pace Cocks.
Coach: Noel ColeiroBALZAN Steve Sultana, Justin Grioli, Steve Bezzina, Elkin Serrano, Edison Bilbao Zarate, Osa Ice-Cream Guobadia, Clive Brincat, Lydon Micallef (68′ Juan Corbalan), Oscar Dario Guerrero, Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza (58′ Michael Borg), Gianmarco Piccioni (80′ Ryan Darmanin).
Subs not used: Mikhail Sciberras, Sean Cipriott, Michael Borg, Samir Arab, Fredrick Nonso Odebe.
Coach: Oliver SpiteriReferee: Andre Arciola
Assistant Referees: William Debattista, Thomas Debono
Fourth Official: Sandro Spiteri
Yellow Cards: Brincat, Serrano
Scorers: 50′ Luke Micallef (P); 55′ Edison Bilbao Zarate (B)
BOV Player of the Match: Oscar Guerrero