St Patrick rue missed chances

St Patrick 0
Naxxar Lions 0

St Patrick and Naxxar Lions yesterday figured in their first drawn result of the season but it was the Saints who were left ruing the three points after missing a series of scoring chances which came their way.

The match at the Centenary Stadium saw Naxxar enjoying most of the possession in the opening half but it was St Patrick who created the scoring opportunities only for the team's finishing to let the Zabbar clan down badly.

Naxxar held possession well in the initial stages but after five minutes Alan Galea's surging run into the their penalty area finished with the Saints striker letting loose a fierce drive which was excellently parried by goalkeeper Paul Psaila.

The Lions only had a series of corners to show and nothing else.

On 25 minutes, a Thomas Caruana inswinging cross, for St Patrick, was headed against the bar by Jesmond Azzopardi.

Henry Pullicino's free-kick was then saved by Franklin Azzopardi and soon after a Paul Fenech free-kick for the Lions was a whisker away from goal.

St Patrick again showed better qualities after the restart as they pounded their opponents' fort but from a swift counter-break the Lions almost broke the stalemate when Ivan Zammit found Paul Fenech unmarked in the Saints' box. Azzopardi, however, intercepted in time.

In the last ten minutes of the game, St Patrick had various chances to score a deserved winner.

Anizoba missed a sitter in front of goal and Gordon Failla had three successive chances all failing to reach the Naxxar net despite the good positioning of the St Patrick player.

St Patrick: F. Azzopardi, M. Pullicino, A. Buttigieg, M. Zerafa (D. Gauci), J. Azzopardi, A. Galea (M. Tanti), C. Failla (R. Cassar), G. Failla, T. Caruana, K. Bonnici, P. Anizoba.

Naxxar: P. Psaila, G. Mock, I. Zammit (D. Dimech), H. Pullicino, C. Dozie, J. Sant Fournier, R. Schembri, K. Cassar, P. Fenech, K. Schembri (D. Sant Fournier), T. Fenech (E. Schembri).

Referee: Nicky Debattista.

Senglea hit back to beat 10-man Rabat

Rabat Ajax 1
Senglea Athletics 2

After beating St Patrick 3-0 last weekend, Senglea Athletics maintained their winning stance last night to notch a second successive win, this time having the better of 10-man Rabat Ajax in a match dominated by the strong winds blowing from all sides at Ta' Qali.

Although with a player less for 50 minutes, Dragan Zivkovic's team were never overshadowed by their opponents who preserved their slim lead after cancelling the Magpies' early goal.

Rabat started the match in buoyant mood and took the lead after nine minutes when Em-manuel Micallef's throughpass came to Michael Micallef whose drive from the edge of the box beat Elvin Attard hands down.

Rabat continued to push more men forward and the Senglea goalkeeper had to be alert to save his side from more trouble, particularly when keeping out a bold Joseph Farrugia effort.

Senglea equalised against the run of play on 17 minutes. A Darren Grech corner was half-cleared by Jonathan Bezzina and John Fsadni was on the right spot to rifle the ball home.

Rabat had good chances to regain the lead but five minutes before the break Senglea scored again. Alan Spiteri dribbled his way through the Rabat rearguard but was brought down by Charlie Borg in the box.

The Rabat defender was sent off and from the penalty Simon Aquilina made it 2-1 for Senglea.

Much of the opening half's fine play was lost after the break, also due to the unfavourable conditions.

Goalkeeper Attard effected a superb save on 64 minutes when stopping a Farrugia free-kick for Rabat. Senglea could have doubled their lead 15 minutes from time when a Tyron Ghirxi cross was headed agonisingly wide by Andrei Imbroll.

Rabat were often caught napping at the back and four minutes from time Senglea should have made sure of the points but Trevor Thomas miscalculated his lob over goalkeeper George Edwards.

Rabat: G. Edwards, E. Muscat, J. Bezzina, M. Micallef, C. Borg, A. Borg, C. Schembri, J. Tonna, D. Galea, J. Farrugia (D. Falzon), A. Zahra.

Senglea: E. Attard, E. Bobolayefa, S. Aquilina, T. Ghirxi, F. Dingli, D. Grech, A. Bonnici, A. Imbroll, C. Caruana (L. Attard), A. Spiteri (K. Tonna), J. Fsadni (T. Thomas).

Referee: Adrian Casha.