After ten straight match days in which two teams shared the leadership in the BOV Women’s League, the championship has now a sole leader as Birkirkara profited from an unexpected Hibernians’ slip up to move two points clear of the Paolites.
On Tuesday, Hibernians, who last week had to wait until injury time to find the winner against Mġarr United, took on Kirkop United at the Charles Abela Stadium, who were at the back of a negative streak which saw them fall in their previous four outings. Nonetheless, given the talent that the Reds boast in their squad, this match up presented itself as a potential banana skin for the 12-time title winners and indeed, it proved so as Kevin Ellul’s clan earned a historic point. Infact, this was the first time ever that Kirkop managed to claim points against Hibs in 11 seasons.
The following day, at the Charles Abela Stadium, the Stripes were tipped as huge favourites over Raiders (Luxol) but although they managed to take victory home, they had to wait until four minutes from time before league’s top scorer Raina Giusti, nailed her 18th goal of the season to send the defending champions two points clear of Hibs.
In the other Section A matchup, Mġarr hit six past bottom side Tarxien Rainbows at the Mgarr Ground to cement their third position, on 22 points.
The Greens forged ahead through Roxanne Micallef on 18 minutes before Tarxien leveled matters with Amy Busuttil, five minutes later.
However, Mġarr managed to gain ground and make their pressure count as they scored three times through Rachela Pace (49), Maia Debono (62) and Claudette Xuereb (71). Kailey Willis, of Tarxien, pulled one back for Tarxien, which enabled her to move fourth in the top scorers list with nine goals before Mġarr sealed the win through goals from Rebecca D’Agostino and Xuereb again.
Meanwhile, Swieqi United joined Fgura United at the top of the Championship table after beating them 3-1 at the Zebbug Ground.
Rebecca Naudi opened the score after seven minutes while Eliza Csik doubled the score past the hour mark. Janice Pace managed to net one for Fgura before Naudi, top scorer of the Oranges with five goals, wrapped up the win with the third goal.
Standings:
Section A: Birkirkara 31; Hibernians 29; Mġarr United 22; Raiders (Luxol) 16; Kirkop United 12; Tarxien Rainbows 8.
Section B: Swieqi United, Fgura United 10; Mosta 0.