STA LUCIA       0

BALZAN           3

Majdevac 49, 60, 84 pen.

Andrija Majdevac earned three priceless points for Balzan as the Serbian striker netted a second-half hat-trick to see off struggling Sta Lucia at the Hibs Stadium.

Majdevac’s polished finishing turned out to be the real difference between both teams in this match. In fact, Sta Lucia had offered stern resistance to last season’s FA Trophy winners but their failure to make the most of the chances that came their way came back to haunt them.

In fact, once Majdevac put Balzan ahead with a cool finish there was no way back for the Saints as the Reds went on to stroll to a comfortable victory that lifts them to sixth in the standings on 18 points.

Oliver Spiteri, the Sta Lucia coach, made three changes to the team that lost to Floriana last week as siblings Adam Magri Overend and Jamie Magri Overend were handed a start at the expense of Jamie Zerafa and Jacob Walker while Luis Riascos was preferred to Diego Mosquera.

Balzan, on the other hand, were without Ricardo Correa and was replaced by Serbian Stefan Dimic who partnered Alfred Effiong and Andrija Majdevac upfront.

The match was evenly balanced for much of the first 45 minutes with both sides showing a lot of aggression and intensity but still struggled to create scoring opportunities.

Sta Lucia created the first chance of the match after 16 minutes when Jamie Magri Overend hit a long-range drive that was well saved by Kristjan Naumovski.

Balzan’s response arrived on the half hour and were unlucky not to take the lead. Andrija Majdevac connected to Steve Pisani’s free-kick but his header was deflected by Jackson Mendoza onto the bar with Ryan Caruana beaten.

Sta Lucia started brightly on the restart and on 46 minutes Camilo Escobar hit a thumping drive that was pushed away by Naumovski.

However, it was Balzan who took the lead on 49 minutes when in a swift break Uros Ljubomirac fed Andrija Majdevac who beat Caruana with a low drive.

Two minutes later, Caruana came to Sta Lucia’s rescue when he did well to push away Ljubomirac’s shot.

At the other end, Adam Magri Overend almost pulled his team level but his firm drive was pushed away by Naumovski.

However, Sta Lucia’s hopes of a fightback were all but extinguished on the hour when from a Steve Pisani corner kick, Majdevac was on hand to head home.

Sta Lucia were unlucky not to pull a goal back on 73 minutes when Kevin Ante Rosero saw his thumping drive coming off the upright with Naumovski beaten.

Eight minutes from time, Balzan sealed the points when they were awarded a penalty when Effiong was fouled inside the area by Riascos and from the spot Majdevac beat Caruana to complete his hat-trick.