The Youth League was due to come to an end on Thursday with the last matches from Section A but following Valletta’s 2-1 win over Pembroke Athleta and a 1-0 win for Hibernians over St. Andrews, a Championship decider is necessary between Hibernians and Valletta to determine the winner of Section A.
Meanwhile Balzan, Zejtun Corinthians, Lija Athletic and Swieqi United won Sections B, C, D and E respectively.
In Section A, following a fine run of eight consective wins, Hibernians seemed heading towards the title but back-to-back defeats to St. Andrews and Pietà. This allowed Valletta to take the top spot as they had only lost to Hibs but a defeat to St. Andrews meant that by mid-February, the two teams were sharing the top spot. Since then the only points they lost were in 2-2 draw in the direct clash.
The Championship Decider will be played on Monday 4th May at the Centenary Stadium, kick-off at 20:00.
St. Andrews finished third, six points behind the joint-leaders as although they suffered only two defeats throughout the season, they were held in four draws. Zabbar St. Patrick and Naxxar Lions will be playing in Section B after finishing in the bottom two places.
In Section B, Balzan emerged as winners after collecting 38 points from eighteen matches, two ahead of San Gwann. The two were promoted to Section A.
This section was a close contest between the top six teams. Mid-way through the league campaign just six points was separating the top six teams.
Until the end of February, Balzan were still unbeaten but then suffered back-to-back defeats to Sliema and San Gwann but then bounced back with five positive results to take home the title.
Melita and Qormi placed joint-third on 33 points, followed by Sliema on 29 and Rabat on 27.
Mellieha and Attard finished ninth and tenth respectively and were therefore relegated to Section C.
In Section C, Zejtun Corinthians dropped only seven points in a defeat to Santa Lucia and two draws with Senglea and Zebbug to top the table with 47 points, two ahead of Vittoriosa Stars who lost twice to Zejtun and once to Zebbug. Zejtun and Vittoriosa ended well ahead of third-placed Zebbug and will therefore play in Section B next season.
St. Venera Ligthnings and Zurrieq, on the other hand, were relegated to Section D as Senglea managed to leapfrog St. Venera with two draws in their final two matches.
Lija Athletic won Section D after collecting 39 points from eighteen matches. They will be joined by Sirens in Section C as the St. Paul’s Bay side finished as runner-up, one point ahead of Mqabba.
Siggiewi and Gudja United were relegated to Section E after finishing ninth and tenth respectively.
In Section E, Swieqi United and Xghajra Tornados secured promotion after placing first and second respectively.
It was a season to remember for Swieqi who dropped just four points in a draw and a defeat with Xghajra to win the Section. Xghajra lost one game following a disciplinary decision and then dropped another two points in a draw with St. George’s after the draw with Swieqi in the opening match.