St Andrew’s 1
Vittoriosa Stars 2

Vittoriosa Stars are momentarily top of the standings after beating fellow promotion hopefuls St Andrew’s who had a player sent off in the first half and played the last 20 minutes with nine men following a second dismissal.

This was a crucial win for the Stars who failed, however, to impose their superiority when enjoying a numerical advantage.

Vittoriosa threatened first when Marcelo Pereira saw his effort hitting the crossbar after being put through by Roberto Brincat.

On 27 minutes, however, it was the Saints who took the lead as Rumen Kerekov hit home after a good run by Peter Anizoba whose drive from an acute angle was half-parried by Jean Mathias Vella.

The Saints were dangerous again when a Nicky Vella Petroni shot was saved by the Stars keeper but on 35 minutes Pereira was floored by Michael Johnson inside the box. A penalty was given and the defender left the field after a second yellow card.

Muir beat Matthew Towns from the spot to make it one-all.

Despite being a man down, the Saints still looked the fresher side after the break.

The Stars were finding spaces in their opponents’ half, however, and it was no surprise that they took the lead on 60 minutes thanks to substitute Lyden Micallef. He stunned Towns with a grounder from the edge of the area.

The Saints lost most of their composure and suffered another blow on 70 minutes when Neil Chetcuti was sent off for a second booking.

St Andrew’s never yielded an inch though and continued to push forward. They almost got the reward they deserved for their spirited play when Justin Camilleri was lucky not to commit an own goal in an attempt to clear inside the Vittoriosa box late on.

St Andrew’s: M. Towns, M. Johnson, B. Said, B. Diacono, J. Briscoe White, J. Farrugia, N. Vella Petroni, P. Anizoba (M. Grima), N. Chetcuti, R. Kerekov, T. Grozev.

Vittoriosa: J.M. Vella, R. Dos Santos, J. Camilleri, L. Vella Critien, R. Brincat (L. Lagana), M. Barbara, A. Spiteri (L. Micallef), M. Tabone, M. Pereira (E. Qordja), G. Muir, Siraj Arab.

Referee: Paul Caruana.

Man of the match: Gary Muir (Vittoriosa Stars).

Mqabba 1
Dingli Swallows 1

Basement club Mqabba are still without a win after failing to beat fellows-in-distress Dingli Swal-lows yesterday.

Guillermo Gavet’s side tried hard to chalk up their first three-pointer of the season. However, their erratic finishing proved to be Mqabba’s undoing.

Veteran John Paul Muscat was very active for Mqabba. On 15 minutes, he found space outside the opponents’ box but his grounder lacked precision.

Dingli responded with a Michael Borg effort. He was left unmarked inside the penalty area but shot straight at keeper Kris Calleja.

A Joseph Okonkwo piledriver almost had the better of Dunstan Zarb but just before the half-hour mark Dingli forged ahead, Kain Roomes doing well to break off his marker before hitting low past Calleja.

A Mauro Bonnici free-kick for Mqabba went wide and Dingli could have made it 2-0 when Roomes beat Calleja but his shot was cleared off the line by Andrew Scicluna.

Mqabba thought they had equalised on 39 minutes when Okonkwo’s free-kick beat Zarb but the ‘goal’ was disallowed for an infringement. However, Mqabba did not have to wait long to make the scores even.

In fact, after Zarb had blocked a Muscat effort, David Azzopardi found the net from a calibrated free-kick just outside the Dingli box.

The second half was played on an even keel. Roomes missed a sitter for Dingli when he was put through by Michael Borg.

Late on, Daniel Bonnici sped past three Dingli men but his shot was stopped by the woodwork as Zarb was alert in stoppage time to keep out a Muscat effort from close in.

Mqabba: K. Calleja, A. Scicluna, D. Azzopardi, D. Bonnici, R. Akande, M. Bonnici, J. Achockwu, A. Caligari, J.P. Muscat, M. Perez (O. Kayode), J. Okonkwo.

Dingli: D. Zarb, A. Portelli (R. Vella), C. Muscat, E. Grech, K. Roomes, K. Formosa (T. Pace), J. Pace, I. Bawuah (J. Sapiano), E. Farrugia, M. Borg, L. Micallef.

Referee: Jude Amin Utulu.

Man of the match: John Paul Muscat (Mqabba).