Sannat celebrate 10th league title

The Melita GFA Division One championship came to a close last Sunday when newly-crowned champions Sannat Lions met Għajnsielem in the final match.

The Lions, who made sure of winning the title in their previous match, looked as though they were still in a party mood and ended up suffering a 1-0 defeat.

The Blacks were more motivated and focused on the day as they went on to record their second win over Sannat in the 2010-11 championship.

Għajnsielem went close to taking an early lead through attempts by Jason Portelli and Yannick Ossok while the Lions had an effort by John Camilleri crashing against the crossbar.

The Blacks scored the goal that decided the issue two minutes into the second half thanks to Thiago dos Santos. They continued to dominate play and could have easily added more goals to their tally but their forwards were found wanting in front of goal.

At the end of the match, GFA president Alvin Grech presented the league trophy to Sannat captain Mark Muscat amid the cele-brations of the numerous Lions fans whose spirits were clearly not tainted by the team’s partial upset on the day. This was the Lions’ 10th league title.

In another Division One match, Victoria Hotspurs climbed to the fourth spot in the standings with a 5-4 win over Nadur Youngsters.

The Youngsters made an excellent start, opening the scoring early on through Joseph Grima. Kalin Ganchev levelled matters for the Hotspurs but Nadur regained the lead on 33 minutes through skipper Anthony Portelli who scored his 100th goal for the Youngsters.

Ganchev scored again before half-time and put the Hotspurs in front with his third goal on the day on 55 minutes.

Substitute Nicholas Mercieca increased the Citizens’ lead before Ganchev got his fourth goal on 65 minutes.

The Hotspurs eased their pressure and Nadur got back into the picture with a Claudio Antunes brace. However, Victoria held tight in the final stages to deny their opponents an equaliser.

Xagħra promoted

Xagħra United beat Żebbuġ Rovers 3-1 in the decider for the Division Two championship. It was a deserved win for the Blues who produced the better scoring opportunities. This victory atoned for Xaħra’s negative showing during the third round of the season where they threw away a comfortable lead at the top.

Żebbuġ, who had come so close to clinching promotion at the end of the regular season, found it difficult to recover from a two-goal deficit.

Sam Frank Bajada put the Blues in front on 21 minutes. The score became 2-0 six minutes later following an own goal by keeper Demis Bajada who turned the ball into his own net as he tried to clear a Shaun Muscat corner.

The Rovers pulled one goal back four minutes from half-time through skipper Alex Tramboo and the same player could have levelled matters in the second half but blasted wide from a good position.

Xagħra made sure of victory with a third goal 17 minutes from time through Michael Bezzina.

Tempers frayed and referee Mario Apap showed the red card to Antoine Camilleri (Żebbuġ) and Shaun Sultana (Xagħra).

A tense finale followed and five minutes from time, Apap dis-missed Xagħra duo Michael Bez-zina and Manwel Scerri along with Gabriel Sillato, of Żebbuġ.