Birkirkara are still on maximum points. They maintained their one hundred per cent record after beating off the honest challenge of sprightly Hamrun Spartans.

The opening exchanges produced little goalmouth action but Birkirkara seized the lead after 12 minutes. Cain Attard ran the length of the pitch on the right flank before firing a rasping shot under the body of David Cassar, the Hamrun goalkeeper from a tight angle.

Shy the half hour mark, Cassar did well to smother away a point-blank shot from Vito Plut. The ball fell again to the striker who, however, miscued from the rebound.

In next to no time, the Spartans transferred the ball quickly upfront for Massimiliano Giusti.

Shouts of penalty resonated around the stadium when Joseph Zerafa threw his body in the way of the Italian midfielder and presumably touched the ball with his hands but referee Malcolm Spiteri waved play on.

Hamrun began to show themselves more often in Birkirkara territory as the first half progressed. On 34 minutes, Jake Grech’s swerving free-kick flew just over the bar.

The Spartans restored the equilibrium with seven minutes of the first half left, Leonardo Wallace threaded a pass through the Birkirkara defence and into the path of the sprinting Haruna Garba.

It looked like as though the chance has been lost as he was brusquely challenged by Nikola Vukanac but the Nigerian striker kept possession of the ball to despatch it past Miroslav Kopric.

Birkirkara managed to cause some discomfort to the Hamrun rearguard after the break as Srdan Dimitrov was at the core of most of Birkirkara’s moves, proving himself the most influential player in an advanced roaming role.

The no non-sense movement of Attard and Joseph Zerafa constituted a cause for co ncern for the defensive-minded Spartans whose predicament in dealing with their opponents’ endeavours on the flanks was reflected in their giving away a succession of free-kicks from potentially dangerous positions.

But Dimitrov did not take advantage from such situations as he twice sent the ball well over the bar.

On the hour mark, a gilt-edge opportunity loomed for Birkirkara when Plut got on the end of an inviting ball inside the box by Temile but his effort crashed against the post with Cassar beaten.

The Stripes were caught out at the back midway into the second half as Wallace’s incursion saw him advance on the right before dragging in a rising shot across the face of goal.

The tiring Dimitrov made way for James Brincat, 15 minutes from time, the former Mosta player made an instant mark on the game. Frank Temile retrieved possession before delivering a cross towards the nippy midfielder who sprinted into the ball to tuck the ball home with his first touch of the ball.