Marsa hand St George's first upset of the season

Marsa 1
St George's 0

This was a crucial victory for Marsa in their bid to make theirs one of the two promotion slots available at the end of the season.

St George's are still leading the standings but yesterday's defeat was the first one for the team this season. Second-placed Marsa are now the only unbeaten side in the division.

The game was a balanced affair with Miguel Mifsud making his debut for St George's after moving on loan from Sliema Wanderers. Marsa had Nikolai Slavtchev and Gilbert Martin in superb form, the former dictating matters in midfield and the other, again fast on the ball, creating havoc when he runs at defenders.

A sizeable crowd at Hamrun witnessed a somewhat tense encounter though. On the whole this top-of-the-table clash let the fans down in various aspects as both teams played a cautious match, more interested in not losing any points than winning them all.

Marsa were the first team to settle down and after only three minutes a good one-two move between Martin a Slavtchev finished with the latter's first-timed effort from 25 metres out being saved by Andrea Gatt.

Marsa continued to show the better ideas. In the 15th minute a Slavtchev free-kick was saved by the alert Gatt. Michael Molzahn's side were putting St George's under pressure. Despite playing in a deep role, Slavtchev again tried his luck in the 22nd minute, this time the ball just missing the target.

St George's hit back in the 25th minute when the Marsa rearguard was caught unawares. Anthony Ewurum stole a ball that looked well beyond his reach and confidently shot at goal with the attempt just missing the target by a few inches.

Marsa looked more determined after the break. On 48 minutes a Martin cross found Shaun Cutajar whose shot from just inside the area was a whisker away from goal. A minute later a Steven Meilak drive, from the edge of the area also finished wide.

Marsa missed a great opportunity to take the lead in the 64th minute when Steve Meilak, with only the keeper to beat, fumbled his chance from close in.

The Red/Blues won a penalty in 66th minute. Following a quick counter-attack Martin tried to go past Emmanuel Sevasta who brought the Marsa man down. The penalty was taken by Ivan Casha who blasted the 'winner' home.

St George's could have equalised soon after when Ewurum incredibly failed to hit home from close range following a perfect pass from Edgar Degabriele.

As expected, Marco Gerada's side threw caution to the win in the final stages but the Marsa rearguard held tight even though they almost collapsed on a couple of occasions.

In a frantic finale, the Blues cursed their luck when a Keith Darmanin free-kick hit the crossbar and, at the other end, Timmy Thomas miscued his shot from eight metres out to Gatt's relief.

Marsa: I. Casha, G. Bencini, D. Vella, N. Slavtchev, G. Martin, D. Gatt, S. Cutajar (R. Micallef), K. Scerri, S. Meilak (T. Thomas), J. Casha (K. Cassar), J.P. Zammit.

St George's: A. Gatt, J. Delia (K. Darmanin), E. Sevasta, A. Bonello, E. Degabriele, J. Spiteri, C. Brincat, L. Lagana (C. Grech), S. Sciberras (T. Thomas), A. Ewurum, M. Mifsud.

Referee: Joe Attard.

Tarxien Rainbows 1
St Patrick 1

Despite playing with 10 men for the last 30 minutes of the game, St Patrick still managed to win a point from this match. After an encouraging start, Tarxien faded away with their modest opponents showing better qualities especially after Gilbert Scerri came on as a substitute mid-way through the second half.

Luck was not on the Saints side as they hit the woodwork three times during the match. But, all in all, a draw was a fair result as Tarxien looked technically the better side but now they have fallen slightly off the pace in the promotion chase.

Tarxien pinned their hopes on the right flank mostly with Alan Tabone posing all sorts of trouble to the Saints rearguard. However, the first real scoring opportunity came St Patrick's way when a Robert Cassar free-kick, in the 28th minute, hit the upright.

Two minutes later Tarxien took the lead. From a Tabone corner, a melee ensued in the box, the ball fell into the path of Manuel Caruana whose thundering drive gave Sean Mintoff no chance.

Tarxien should have doubled their lead in the 35th minute when Tabone dribbled his way through, rounded Mintoff and with the ball destined to hit the back of the net, Michael Zerafa came up with a providential clearance to boot away to safety.

On resumption Tarxien almost scored again but Kurt Zammit shot wide from a good position after he was put through by Andre Rocha da Silva.

St Patrick were denied by the woodwork twice in the space of a minute. In the 53rd minute a Mark Tanti drive from outside the area crashed against the bar and soon after Lawrence Vella's effort suffered the same fate.

Da Silva then missed a glorious chance to score and in the same action Simon Shead failed to make any contact in front of goal.

In the 62nd minute St Patrick suffered a severe setback when Ludwig Bartolo was given his marching orders for a second yellow card following a foul on Da Silva.

However, despite the numerical handicap, the Saints equalised when from a swift counter attack Scerri eluded the Tarxien defenders before chipping the ball over Curmi from close range.

With 10 minutes to go Zerafa tried his luck for the Saints with a volley from around 35 metres but Curmi turned the ball to a corner to avoid an embarrassing upset for Tarxien.

Tarxien: A. Curmi, F. Farrugia, M. Caruana, E. Saliba, J. Tonna, K. Zammit, M. Micallef, S. Shead, A. Tabone, K. Coleiro (C. Camenzuli), A. Rocha Da Silva.

St Patrick: S. Mintoff, R. Cassar, M. Zerafa, M. Fleri Soler, S. Costa Brazilino, M. Tanti, K. Micallef (G. Scerri), L. Bartolo, L. Vella (S. Zerafa), A. Caruana (G. Failla), C. Micallef.

Referee: Adrian Casha.