Young Stars, Rabat win before title clash

Young Stars 2
Sliema Hotsticks 1

Thanks to this win, Young Stars have kept their title hopes alive but much will depend on next Sunday's clash against champions Rabat.

In the first half, Young Stars had the lion's share of possession but Sliema proved once again that they have a solid defence in the making.

Young Stars opened the scoring on 26 minutes when a raking pass by Dalli into the Sliema area was controlled by Evans for the latter to pass to the unmarked Magro, who had no difficulty slotting the ball home.

The Stars doubled their lead on 34 minutes. From a short corner, the ball rebounded off Mallia in goal but Magro was at hand to notch his second.

Young Stars lost Magro, red carded, on 41 minutes and his dismissal disrupted the team's momentum with Sliema taking advantage of the situation.

Sliema were now moving forward more frequently and their threat on the opponents' goal increased.

Sliema pulled one back on 56 minutes from a short corner when the young Ryan Dalli squeezed the ball in between Mizzi and the upright.

Sliema tried to salvage a point but Young Stars kept their cool to bag the two points at stake.

Rabat Depiro 2
Pasta Poiatti Qormi 1

Following the previous week's debacle at the hands of Sliema, Rabat knew too well that only maximum points would keep them in the running for an eighth consecutive championship.

The champions went out straight on the attack and by the 10th minute they had already forced three short corners. It was from the third that they moved ahead.

A Charlot Antonelli hit at goal was partially stopped by the Qormi defence, only for the ball to break to Branko Radojovic who slammed it home.

With this goal, Qormi seemed to shed their initial stage-fright and started to perform better. It had to be Ian Azzopardi in Rabat's goal to deny Magri on two occasions.

Magri was again foiled on 25 minutes, this time by the upright after receiving a pass from Steve Tanti. Qormi's persistence paid off when a long pass from Jonathan Aquilina into the Rabat circle was picked up by Keith Calleja who beat Azzopardi with an angled hit.

In the second half, Qormi again gained the upperhand and could have scored through Jonathan Borg but his effort was saved by Azzopardi.

Other chances came Qormi's way but both Calleja and Aquilina failed to conclude. Qormi paid dearly for these misses.

From one of their rare second-half attacks, Rabat won a short corner from which Kevin Micallef beat Chircop to seal the win.