Champions Hamrun Spartans started their defence of the BOV Premier League title thanks to a narrow win over Balzan at the National Stadium on Saturday.
Luciano Zauri handed Federico Marchetti, Elionay, Uros Djuranovic, Nemanja Krstic and substitute Yuliyan Nenov their league debut On the other hand, Oliver Spiteri had Danilo Golovic, Andre Prates, Triston Caruana, Jake Grech, Leonardo da Silva de Souza together with substitutes Ryohei Michibuchi Manyluak Aguek and Aleksandar Katanic making their first league appearance. Apart from Leonardo and Katanic, the other six players had played for Balzan in the UEFA Europa Conference League.
The Spartans scored the all-important goal when off a cross by Luke Montebello from the left, Jonny headed home past goalkeeper Danilo Golovic.