Senglea Athletic earned an important point in the battle to avoid the danger zone thanks to a 2-2 draw with Hamrun Spartans at the Hibernians Stadium on Saturday.
A draw which puts Senglea four points ahead of St. Andrews and nine ahead of Qormi. Hamrun, on the other hand, join Sliema in fourth place on 41 points.
Senglea took the lead on the 32nd minute when in a swift counter-attack, Leighton Grech received the ball and entered the area before slotting the ball past Manuel Bartolo,
Ten minutes later, the Wanderers were unlucky not to equalise when Kevin Tulimieri’s angled shot hit the upright and on the 44th minute, Tulimieri rounded three defenders before hitting the crossbar.
However, eight minutes in the second half, the Italian striker was not to be denied when off a Triston Caruana corner, he rose high to head home.
Senglea regained the lead on 62 minutes when off a cross by Leighton Grech, Taisei Marukawa hit hard past the Hamrun goalkeeper.
An Enrico Pepe header hit the crossbar on the 70th minute but nine minutes later, Hamrun restored equilibrium thanks to Carlos Henneberg who hit home from close range after a freekick from the left created havoc inside the area.
On the 90th, Senglea had Augusto Rene Caseres sent off after receiving a second yellow card.
SENGLEA Matthew Farrugia, Taisei Marukawa, El Mehdi Sidqy, Zachary Cassar, Leighton Grech (89′ Bradley Schembri), Gonzalo Julian Leyton, Diego Venancio, Gary Camilleri, Gonzalo Nicolas Virano, Matias Nicolas Garcia, Augusto Rene Caseres.
Subs not used: Zach Valletta, Matthew Bartolo, Luke Scorfna, Karl Cutajar, Larson Mallia, Christian Sammut.
Coach: Vincenzo Potenza
Asst. Coach: Darren Anton VellaHAMRUN Manuel Bartolo, Enrico Pepe, Triston Caruana, Carlos Henneberg, Andre Scicluna, Conor Borg (52’ Sebastian Nayar), Marco Criaco, Karl Micallef, Orestis Nikolopoulos, Caetano Calil (74’ Ryan Darmanin).
Subs not used: Sean Cini, Karl Schembri, Cain Cutajar, Darren Borg, Christopher Galea.
Coach: Giovanni Tedesco
Asst. Coach: Stefan SultanaReferee: Darryl Agius
Assistant Referees: Jurgen Spiteri, Duncan Spencer
Fourth Official: Mario Apap
Yellow Cards: Henneberg, Garcia, Caseres, Caruana
Red Cards: 90′ Augusto Rene Caseres
BOV Player of the Match: Leighton Grech