Pietà win as Rabat and Vittoriosa share the spoils

Pietà Hotspurs beat Mqabba while Rabat and Vittoriosa shared the spoils as the First-Divison campaign kicked off yesterday in different fashion when the first matches of the knock-out competition were played at the Victor Tedesco Stadium.

As expected all teams look well-balanced which should augur well for the coming league season. Both games were very similar to each other where most of the play was dictated in midfield.

So the Maltco Lotteries First Division KO has kicked off play for teams in the second tier of Maltese football and this season it has a different format.

With the 10 teams divided in two groups of five this is more like a dress rehearsal for the BOV First Division League which kicks-off on Saturday, November 8.

Pietà, Mqabba, Rabat, Vittoriosa and Dingli form Group 1 while St Patrick, St George's, San Ġwann, Senglea and Mosta form Group 2.

The competition is being played on a round-robin format which comes to a close on October 12. The top two teams in each group progress to the semi-finals, scheduled for May 23.

Vittoriosa were yesterday under the charge of George Faure who has taken over from Ivan Zammit.

In front of a small crowd the first match of the afternoon, between Pietà and Mqabba, was controlled by Paul Apap who had an easy outing as both sides played a clean match.

Mqabba found life a bit difficult but as time went by both teams faded out with both defences outwitting the forward line as Pietà and Mqabba looked more interested on not conceding a goal than score.

Mqabba may feel a bit unlucky not to have won a point from this match even though they did not create many goalscoring opportunities; they dictated most of the play in the second half.

The goal that decided the match and the three points for Clive Mizzi's side came in the 39th minute when former Tarxien Rainbows striker Simon Shead was too quick for Kris Calleja to nod home a Deanov cross from the left.

The second match controlled by Jurgen Spiteri with Rabat taking the lead through an Adrian Mifsud header after 28 minutes following an Alan Zahra corner.

Vittoriosa tried to hit back thanks to some good runs by Anthony Eviparker but the Rabat rearguard aided by the former Tarxien defender Michael Micallef were sound and difficult to beat.

However, the Cottonera side managed to equalise on 88 minutes when Lucienne Scerri headed home a Kenneth Abela cross to win a point for Vittoriosa.