Sannat join Nadur at the top

Nadur Youngsters 0
Qala St Joseph 0

Nadur Youngsters were unexpectedly held to a scoreless draw by lowly Qala St Joseph to lose sole leadership in the standings. With only three matches to go, Nadur are now sharing first place with Sannat Lions on 27 points.

Xaghra United and Kercem Ajax are still not out of the reckoning as the title issue will probably be decided in the last day of the championship.

The match saw both teams producing a good number of scoring opportunities but to no avail.

Qala's Inim Aktpan was called to make difficult saves following efforts from Anthony Portelli and Zdenek Svoboda as Denis Abela, Rufin Oba and Joe Xerri tested Jonathan Xuereb in the Youngsters goal.

Nadur went closest to break the deadlock after the break when a shot by Josef Buttigieg was partially stopped by Aktpan and from the rebound Anthony Portelli's header hit the upright.

Aktpan saved the match for Qala in stoppage time when he rushed out of goal to stop Anthony Portelli who was through on goal.

Nadur: J. Xuereb, P. Buttigieg, S. Attard, J. Meilaq, Z. Svoboda (K. Mifsud), M. Portelli, F.P. Azzopardi (K. Buttigieg), J. Buttigieg, E. Nwankwo, A. Portelli, J. Portelli.

Qala: I. Aktpan, G. Cefai, B. Portelli, P. Camilleri (I. Grech), M. Bonello, R. Oba, D. Abela, M. Mifsud, J. Xerri (P. Said), C. Attard, K. Mercieca.

Referee: George Portelli.

Sannat Lions 2
GHajnsielem 1

Sannat Lions took advantage of Nadur's slip-up against Qala to join them on top after beating Ghajnsielem with the odd goal in three.

Sannat had an excellent start and opened the score in the sixth minute from a penalty, awarded after a foul by Frank Buttigieg on Ricardo Saverino. The latter made it 1-0 from the spot.

The Lions pounded the Blacks' fort and doubled the score in the 26th minute through Sabri Rais, who placed in goal with a low shot.

But then, Ghajnsielem halved the deficit with an excellent Leandro de Castro free-kick.

Sannat could have regained a two-goal lead before half-time but Silvan Galea's shot from close distance ended high.

After the break, the Blacks were close to an equaliser with efforts from Marian Bucur and de Castro. They suffered a setback in the 70th minute when Charles Mercieca was shown a second yellow card.

Ghajnsielem did not let up and Bucur was unlucky when his angled shot hit the bar late on.

Sannat: P. Galea, A. Debono, M. Formosa, P. Spiteri (J. Agius), C. de Oliveira, M. Muscat, S. Galea, S. Rais, R. Saverino, N. Borg, E. Grima.

Ghajnsielem: V. Agius, D. Debattista, F. Buttigieg, C. Mercieca, J. Buttigieg, L. de Castro, J. Camilleri, J. Attard, M. Bucur, L. Buttigieg, S. Azzopardi.

Referee: Feodor Zammit.

Division Two

SK Victoria Wanderers obtained a 3-1 victory over Zebbug Rovers last weekend.

The match did not have much interest since the top two places are already decided.

The Wanderers opened the score early on through Jen Noel Attard. Josef Debrincat made it one-all on 17 minutes but Victoria regained the lead with an Ajibade Adesina goal before half-time.

The league runners-up sealed the issue with a Chris Sciortino goal 20 minutes from time.