Melita, Sta Lucija to contest top place

Zejtun Corinthians 1
Sta Lucija 3

Sta Lucija obtained three precious points at the expense of Zejtun Corinthians to keep alive their hopes of finishing first in this mini-tournament. Now everything depends on their last match against Melita on Sunday.

After only four minutes the Saints went close when a Liam Cutajar effort was ably saved by Fardell. At the other end, an Elton Caruana free-kick for Zejtun flashed wide.

On 14 minutes the Saints were awarded a penalty for a foul by Roderick Gafa on Kurt Grima. Melvin Agius converted from the spot.

In the 18th minute Sta Lucija doubled their lead through a Cutajar volley with Zejtun's reply producing two fierce drives from Vince Camilleri, both neutralised by David Brincat.

An own goal by Sta Lucija's Martin Camilleri saw Zejtun back in the reckoning just after the break. However, Sta Lucija soon restored their two-goal lead when an Agius effort from a free-kick had the better of Fardell.

Zejtun were awarded a penalty in the last ten minutes of the match for a foul on Jesmar Abela. However, Elton Caruana's shot from the spot was saved by the reliable Brincat.

Referee: Kevin Azzopardi.

Birzebbuga SP 0
Melita 1

An Edward Herrera goal, four minutes from time, was enough for the Amateurs to chalk up their second win in the play-offs and take sole leadership with only one match to go.

Birzebbuga were looking to make up for a bad start in the tournament and went close early on when a Ronnie Celeste shot just missed the opponents' goal.

Gregory Degabriele and Matthew Borg I had shots saved by Mercieca who did well on 21 minutes to block a Herrera effort from close in.

On the half-hour mark a header by Chris Mifsud Bonnici just missed the target with the southerners hitting back on 36 minutes through Darren Prendergast. His firm grounder was saved with difficulty by Sapiano.

Melita dominated play for most of the second half but found Mercieca in fine form to stop them from opening the score. However, there was little that he could have done in the 86th minute when Herrera hit home the match winner.

Referee: Alan Mario Sant.

Sunday's matches: 2.30 p.m. Birzebbuga vs Zejtun; 4.30 p.m. Melita vs Sta Lucija.