The main match of the weekend in Gozo was marred by deplorable incidents as the clash between Victoria Hotspurs and Xewkija Tigers had to be abandoned in the 90th minute.
The chaos started after referee Joseph Camilleri judged that a late goal for the Citizens was to stand. This sparked vehement protests by the Xewkija clan who claimed that the assistant referee had signalled for an infringement when the action started.
The referee had noted his assistant's raised flag but waved play on, deeming that the player in the 'offside' position was not interfering with play.
However, amid the protests, one supporter jumped over the fence and ran after the referee but was stopped by the police. A few moments later, the match was abandoned.
It is a shame that such incidents are still happening during football matches. Those involved should know that an assistant referee's decision can be overruled by the referee.
Furthermore, in this particular case, the referee's decision was correct and there was no need for such strong protests which incited the culprit to jump onto the pitch and assault the referee.
Victoria Hotspurs 3
Xewkija Tigers 2
(abandoned 90th)
This match pitted two teams, namely Victoria Hotspurs and Xewkija Tigers, who suffered a defeat in their first outing.
If it were not for the incidents already mentioned, the match would have gone down as one of the most exciting so far.
Victoria, missing three regular players due to suspension, had to introduce young players in attack. They opened the scoring early on thanks to newcomer Michael Bongailas.
Xewkija took some time to recover but went close to level the scores when a Portelli drive bounced off the bar.
Xewkija did manage to equalise just before the break when Osy Nkwocha's clearance hit colleague Kevin Attard and the ball rolled agonisingly inside the Hotspurs' net.
Soon after the restart, Xewkija took the lead with a goal by Mark Camilleri following a pass by Rais.
However, Victoria were not demoralised and a few minutes later the score became 2-2 after goalie Debono failed to punch away a free-kick and substitute Joseph Mizzi placed easily into an open goal.
In the 90th minute, Victoria's Joe Falzon supplied a throughball to Nkwocha who evaded the offside trap, dribbled the goalkeeper and shot inside an empty net.
The goal was valid but the mayhem that ensued brought the match to an abrupt end.
Referee: Joseph Camilleri.
Sprite Division II
Gharb Rangers took sole leadership in Division Two with a 4-2 win over Oratory Youths. Gharb's hero was Philip Bajada who scored a hat-trick. Ray Gafa netted the other goal.
Oratory's goals came from Marvin Grech and George Farrugia. Towards the end, Gharb had Roy Vella sent off.
In the other match Sannat Lions registered a 5-4 victory over Kercem Ajax. Sannat opened the score through Mark Muscat but until the end of the first half Kercem had surged into a 3-1 lead with goals from Charlie Azzopardi, Ryan Buttigieg and Belmondo Mbangha.
Just before the break Kercem had Mario Apap sent off. Sannat pulled one back from Chris Buttigieg but Josmar Grech made it 4-2 for Kercem. However, Sannat continued with their recovery and levelled the score with two Abdul Mutalib goals. The Lions scored the decisive goal in the 89th minute after an own goal by goalie Camilleri.