Hotspurs stun Saints

St George's 0
Pietà Hotspurs 2

This was a priceless victory for strugglers Pietà against promotion-seekers St George's whose chances of going up were severely jolted.

At the end, the points went to the side that showed more determination than the Saints who looked jaded and bereft of ideas. Pietà, who scored a goal in each half, now have 16 points and will eagerly await the outcome of today's basement clash between Mqabba and St Patrick.

The Saints will also be interested spectators this afternoon for the match between Vittoriosa Stars and Balzan Youths, two other sides fighting for promotion.

Without influential midfielder Silvio Sciberras the Saints never got going and although they did the early running they couldn't find a way past an organised defensive Pietà set-up.

On 12 minutes, Zack Muscat was close to opening the score for Pietà following an Alabi cross. But three minutes later he did not miss when again put through by Alabi.

Despite having the backing of a good number of Saints fans, Joey Falzon's team were erratic in their play. True, St George's saw more of the ball but their final touch was always going astray.

The likes of Chris Ciappara, Josef Dalli and Anthony Ewurun were a static bunch with Pietà always a step ahead in one-on-one situations.

The only danger St George's produced in the opening half came just before the break when an Emerson Amaira header beat Miguel Montfort but Cleaven Cassar cleared from over the line.

On resumption, Chris Ciappara cross looked to have hit the hand of Perry Acton but the referee waved play on to what looked a justified penalty claim.

Despite increasing their rhythm the Saints were rarely dangerous with only a few efforts, namely a Chris Ciappara drive, that was stopped by Montfort, and an Amaira header which was again dealt with by the alert Pietà keeper.

The Hotspurs could have scored again on 63 minutes but an Andrew Scerri header was saved by the Saints keeper.

Then, a good move by Quilin Refalo and Muscat, finished with the latter shooting just wide.

With the Saints pressing forward Pietà found time and space to put the game to bed late on when substitute Malcolm Marmara scored following a swift counter-attack.

St George's: T. Galea, E. Sevasta, C. Grech, E. Amaira, B. Fenech, J. Dalli, G. Mallia, G. Bonello (N. Caruana), A. Ewurun, A. Bonello (M. Xerri), C. Ciappara.

Pietà: M. Montfort, B. Sciberras, B. Perry Acton, Q. Refalo, M. Alabi (C. Spiteri), Z. Muscat, C. Cassar, G. Goodlip (M. Marmara), I. Grech, A. Scerri (D. Mifsud), S. Pace.

Referee: Fyodor Zammit.

Man of the match: Zack Muscat (Pietà Hotspurs).

Mosta safe

Melita 1
Mosta 2

Mosta made sure not to get embroiled in the scrap to avoid relegation by beating Melita who are still not out of danger.

Mosta's win was deserved as they were the ones who ventured forward most and had Julian Vella, Terence Vella and Gilbert Martin, in particular, in outstanding form.

On the contrary, Melita did not produce the kind of form they had shown of late.

In a drab first half, a Vella free-kick finished over the Melita goal and on the half-hour mark, Lyden Micallef had an effort saved by Amateurs keeper Matthew Sapiano following some good work by Martin.

The game came to life in the second half and on 47 minutes a Micallef grounder was stopped by Sapiano. Mosta took the lead three minutes later when Terence Vella exchanged passes with Julian Vella who advanced inside the opponents' box but was brought down by Sapiano.

The referee pointed to the spot and Terence Vella scored with ease.

Melita tried to hit back but Nicolo Baldacchino was late to an inviting Kane Micallef cross. On 62 minutes, Micallef had a shot blocked thanks to the good covering of goalkeeper Sapiano.

A Micallef free-kick rolled into the path of Nicholas Zammit whose first-time effort was saved by Mosta's no.1 Noel Attard.

Melita tried hard to equalise and pushed more men forward with Mosta finding ample space to counter-attack and it was no surprise that the Amateurs were caught cold 12 minutes from time as Martin sped through to beat Sapiano from close range.

A minute from time Melita pulled one back, thanks to a Steve Bonnici header but the Blues could have added a third goal in stoppage time when a Terence Vella free-kick was parried by Sapiano and Martin failed to hit home from routine distance.

Melita substitute Matthias Fenech, who came on early in the second half, was then sent off for dissent.

Melita: M. Sapiano, M. Attard, M. Cachia, N. Zammit, A. Caruana Scicluna (N. Rizzo), M. Martin, K. Micallef, N. Baldacchino, J. Galea, J. Mifsud (M. Fenech), I. Bilocca (M. Borg).

Mosta: N. Attard, A. Borg (B. Galea), K. Farrugia (C. Sant), A. Cini, M. Brincat, M. Briggs, J. Vella, L. Grima (C. Pace), L. Micallef, T. Vella, G. Martin.

Referee: Marco Borg.

Man Of The Match: Gilbert Martin (Mosta).