Swieqi United and Msida St Joseph have secured a place in the Elite Group of the Gatorade Futsal League.

Swieqi opened an unassailable gap over their nearest rivals in the standings to make sure of their place in the top six after figuring in a thrilling 4-4 draw against Sliema Wanderers who had entertained hopes of making the Elite Group this season.

Swieqi did well to open a double advantage in the first half but the Wanderers refused to throw in the towel.

They hit back every time they fell behind, snatching the equaliser just over a minute from the end. However, the outcome was of little help to Sliema’s cause.

Swedish playmaker Fredrick Johnsson was in fine form for Swieqi as he scored a hat-trick.

Darren Agius, Aleksandar Ribic, Paul Bugeja and Dexter O’Brien put their names on the scoresheet for the Wanderers.

Msida St Joseph were made to sweat to beat Marsaskala 4-3 in a tight match. The southseasiders were looking not to finish empty-handed from this encounter but the Saints hit their stride with Paulo Diones Mendes Da Silva scoring twice.

The other goals for Msida came from Floren Manea and Tyrone Borg.

Reuben Degabriele, Shaun Ebejer and Dylan Caruana got the goals for Marsaskala.

In another match, a four-goal burst in the first half-hour looked to have given Mqabba the three points against Gozo. However, the latter staged a superb comeback to draw level late in the match.

The result handed Gozo FC their first point after 12 defeats.

Miguel Alcaraz, Kevin Loughborough, Justin Psaila and Darren Aitchinson put Mqabba 4-0 up but a hat-trick by Warren Zerafa and a goal from Jean Paul Abdilla saw the Gozitans cancel out the deficit to break their duck in the league.

The competition resumes this evening when Sliema face Ħamrun Spartans while the late kick-off is a clash between two championship contenders – Valletta and Luxol.

Standings
Luxol 36; Valletta, Ħamrun 31; Lija 30; Swieqi, Msida 22; Sirens 17; Sliema 16; Żebbuġ 15; Mqabba 11; Mdina 9; Qrendi, Marsaskala 7; Gozo 1.