Galea goal floors Rabat in tight tie

Rabat Ajax 0
Melita 1

Melita will play Balzan in the final after edging past Rabat thanks to a solitary goal scored by Julian Galea in a balanced tie.

However, credit goes mainly to Melita goalkeeper Matthew Sapiano. He distinguished himself with a string of fine saves including one to stop an Adam Smeir penalty.

The Amateurs went close to scoring first following a Gregory Degabriele free-kick. Joseph Caruana could have done better for Rabat at the other end and Emanuel Muscat shot just wide of Sapiano's goal.

A minute before the break Rabat goalkeeper Azzopardi brought off a fine save to deny Galea.

The second period was played mostly in midfield with Rabat denied early on by Sapiano off a shot by Smeir. Then, on 73 minutes, Rabat were awarded a penalty for a foul by Gribbon on Jonathan Bezzina. However, Smeir's shot was stopped by Sapiano.

Rabat paid dearly for that miss as two minutes later Azzopardi failed to hold Bjorn Bondin's volley and in dashed Galea who rammed home the rebound.

In the final stages of the match, the Magpies tried desperately hard to save the match but the closest they came was from a Bezzina cross-shot that was dealt with by the alert Sapiano.

Rabat Ajax: J. Azzopardi, J. Bezzina, J. Tonna, J. Caruana, C. Micallef, A. Smeir, D. Galea, D. Falzon (A. Zahra), M. Micallef, C. Schembri (P. Ciantar), E. Muscat.

Melita: M. Sapiano, J. Mifsud, D. Azzopardi, G. Gribbon, D. Gravino, M. Martin, M. Hyzler, B. Bondin, M. Borg, G. Degabriele (K. Micallef), J. Galea.

Referee: Paul Caruana.

Balzan Youths 4
Mgarr United 0

Balzan eased their way into the KO final as they brushed aside Mgarr's weak challenge, scoring four goals in the process.

The best goal of the lot was scored by Gilbert Scerri midway through the second half.

Balzan made their intentions clear early on and twice went close through Kurt Coleiro and Jerryton Agius.

Antoine Sacco missed a sitter and on 29 minutes the Balzan striker headed wide from an inswinging Monreal corner.

The stalemate was broken on the half-hour mark when from a Scerri corner, Agius nodded the ball into the path of Victor Micallef who headed past Mgarr goalkeeper Kevin Ellul.

Balzan doubled their lead five minutes later when they were awarded a penalty for a foul on William Camilleri. Scerri made no mistake from the spot.

Balzan sustained the pressure after the break and on 50 minutes an effort by Sacco was turned onto the post by Ellul.

However, it was 3-0 on 59 minutes when Scerri beat Ellul with an excellent lob. Balzan wrapped up the win six minutes from time with a fourth goal scored by Aaron Agius.

Balzan: B. Bonello, J. Agius, V. Micallef, R. Mifsud, S. Cappitta, A. Lagana, M. Monreal, A. Agius, G. Scerri (J. Gatt), K. Coleiro (S. Mizzi), A. Sacco (A. Camilleri).

Mgarr: K. Ellul, A. Portelli, C. Attard, M. Bugeja, C. Gauci, W. Camilleri (C. Scerri), M. Muscat (E. Sciberras), M. Borg, J. Borg (G. Said), N. Busuttil, C. Abela.

Referee: Joe Attard.