Sliema, White Hart share spoils
Rabat Depiro thrash Young Stars
BDO Sliema Hotsticks 2
Laferla Insurance White Hart 2
White Hart immediately took the initiative and created a series of attacks but the Sliema defence withstood the early pressure.
On 10 minutes, Sliema won a short corner but Robert Vassallo Agius denied Lukas Plaehn with a fine save.
White Hart could have gone ahead four minutes later when Carl Tua hit over the bar after receiving from Giancarlo Torpiano. In the 22nd minute, Silvano Vassallo opened the scoring for Sliema when he took advantage of a weak clearance by Alain Vella.
Just before the interval Anthony Roberts had a chance to level the score but his hit just missed the target.
The young Sliema goalkeeper then effected two consecutive saves to keep his goal intact but could do nothing to stop Tua from equalising on 42 minutes. The same player almost put his side ahead six minutes later but his first-time flick missed the far post.
White Hart paid dearly for this miss as Sliema went 2-1 up. From a short corner action, Plaehn beat Vassallo Agius with an unstoppable flick.
It took only three minutes for White Hart to make it 2-2. Sandro Bartolo dribbled past a couple of Sliema defenders on the flank before he passed the ball to Tua who beat Cole with a reverse flick.
Sliema again had a golden opportunity to regain the lead but Michael Bugeja’s rising hit went over the bar aided by a slight deflection off the goalkeeper’s helmet.
Mr Clean Floriana Young Stars 0
Ta’ Soldi Rabat Depiro 6
Rabat could not have had a better start as Jonathan Micallef put them in front inside the first minute.
Stunned by this early setback, Floriana could not get their act together and Rabat took full advantage by pinning their opponents in their own half.
Waylin Abdilla denied Rabat with some timely saves but the latter doubled their lead in the 28th minute thanks to James Azzopardi. The same player added a third when he again beat Abdilla with a well-placed flick.
The second half was more of the same with Rabat in full control of proceedings.
In the 43rd minute, Mark Bugeja scored goal no. 4 with the same player netting the fifth seven minutes later.
Rene Antonelli completed the rout with a sixth goal.