Nadur Youngsters, Kercem to contest 25th final

Nadur Youngsters and Kercem Ajax will contest the final of the 25th Independence Cup after both claimed deserved victories over Xewkija Tigers and Ghajnsielem respectively.

On a high after their 7-3 success over Qala St Joseph in the quarter-finals, Nadur showed their character when turning defeat into victory.

The catalyst of their success was striker Alex Ribic who scored his side's goals and was a constant threat to the Xewkija rearguard.

The Tigers opened the scoring in the 19th minute from a penalty by Carlos Fernando Bezerra after Kevin Buttigieg fouled Christian Bugeja inside the penalty box.

Nadur staged an immediate reaction to level the scores in the 24th minute. Xewkija's Julius Ngangue failed to clear a cross by Joseph Portelli, Ribic took the loose ball, dribbled the goalkeeper and placed in goal.

Xewkija were demoralised but Nadur kept insisting. The latter had a Joseph Portelli goal disallowed for a foul by the same player while Ribic had an attempt cleared away from the goalmouth by Martin Cremona and a free-kick that shaved the post.

The Youngsters took the lead in the first minute of the second half. A clearance by Benneth Njoku was intercepted by Ribic whose powerful strike from outside the penalty area surprised Xewkija goalkeeper Pace.

In the second semi-final, Kercem squeezed into the final with a close but deserved 1-0 win over Division One champions Ghajnsielem.

Ghajnsielem were the more dangerous side in the early stages with Errol Grima and Brian Meilak going close to giving them the lead.

Kercem recovered from their difficult start and began to share the exchanges with their opponents. Their best chances fell to Mario Azzopardi and Gothard Conti while Ghajnsielem were dangerous with a free-kick by Renato Conceicao and an effort by Loretu Scicluna that was cleared off the line by John Grech.

Kercem came out more determined in the second half but struggled to find a breakthrough. They scored what proved to be the winner 17 minutes from time when referee Anton Zammit awarded them a penalty after Alfred Effiong was tackled by Conceicao. Effiong rammed the ball home from the penalty spot to send Kercem into tomorrow's final.