Birkirkara, Raiders make fine start to women's league

The focus of women's football shifted to local competitions last weekend following the midweek upset at the National Stadium when Malta was heavily beaten by Ireland in a European Championship group match.

The opening two fixtures of the 2003/04 national championship were held at the Pace Grasso stadium on Sunday with match duration now lengthened from 70 to 90 minutes to meet required international standards.

Birkirkara kicked off their challenge to break off Hibs' hold on the league title with a convincing 2-0 over Mosta. In this match, Sandra Sammut was making her first appearance for Birkirkara after playing for various seasons with Mosta.

Proceedings took place mostly in midfield but near the end of the first half, the Stripes opened the score through Rebecca D'Agostino.

Mosta showed better commitment after the restart in their bid to score an equaliser. Jane Coates tried from a free-kick but Dimech was well-positioned in the Birkirkara goal to save without difficulty. Birkirkara sealed the issue three minutes from time when Deborah Pisani shot home her team's second goal.

The second match was a one-sided affair as Raiders trounced Rabat Ajax 4-0, three of their goals coming in the opening half.

Amanda Atkins scored twice and Marcia Zammit added another before the interval as Raiders were the more enterprising team on the field.

Zammit scored again after the break to make it 4-0 and made sure Raiders started their league commitments on a right footing.

Next fixtures at Pace Grasso: (Sunday) 9 a.m. Hibs vs Melita; 11 a.m. Raiders vs Birkirkara.