Sannat Lions fly Gozitan flag in KO

Gozo champions Sannat Lions are among 16 teams vying for a place in the second round of the U*Bet FA Trophy as no fewer than eight first-round matches will be played this weekend at two venues, the Centenary Stadium and the Victor Tedesco Stadium.

The 2009/2010 FA Trophy kicked off in midweek with a preliminary round tie between Vittoriosa Stars and Melita. The former team edged the Amateurs 1-0 in extra-time to set up a first-round meeting with Premier League team Dingli Swallows tomorrow.

It has taken Vittoriosa a while to find their feet after their demotion from the Premier League but their 1-0 win over St George's in their final outing from the Maltco Lotteries Division One KO and last Wednesday's defeat of Melita suggest that Winston Muscat's side are putting their early-season troubles behind them.

Muscat gave a debut to two foreign players against Melita, Henry Makinwa and Leo Chitescu.

Dingli will fancy their chances of progressing to the second round, especially on the back of their encouraging performances in the league this month.

Premier League sides Tarxien Rainbows, Qormi, Msida St Joseph, Ħamrun Spartans and Floriana are also optimistic about making it to the next stage as they will face Division One opponents.

Steve D'Amato, the Spartans coach, is expected to include new signing Joao Batista Mawete in his starting team after the club received the all-clear from the MFA to register the Angola-born forward.

Unlike previous seasons when all Division One clubs only had one foreign player in their ranks, some of them now have up to three, the same as their Premier League counterparts.

This week, Oliver Spiteri, the Mosta coach, added a second foreign player to his squad - Nathan Koo-Boothe, a former Jamaica U-21 international who holds an English passport. The other foreign player at the Blues is Mark Briggs, of England.

Of the eight first-round fixtures, only two don't feature a Premier League team. One of these is the clash between Sannat Lions and St Patrick.

The GFA champions will surely be keen on giving a good account of themselves and possibly mark this landmark occasion for Gozitan football with a win.

On the other side of the coin, St Patrick, under the charge of Alfred Attard, will be hellbent on avoiding an early exit from the competition.

Tomorrow's second fixture at the Tedesco Stadium is the only all-Division One match-up of the first round as Marsaxlokk take on Pietà Hotspurs.

On paper, the Southerners have the strongest team in the division as they held on to virtually all their key players despite their demotion from the Premier League. Marsaxlokk, under the charge of coach Patrick Curmi, further strengthened their squad this week with the signing of Latvian forward Maksims Danilov.

Today

Centenary Stadium: 13.30 Mosta vs Tarxien Rainbows; 15.30 Mqabba vs Qormi.

Tedesco Stadium: 13.30 Msida SJ vs Balzan Youths; 15.30 Ħamrun Spartans vs St George's.

Tomorrow

Centenary Stadium: 13.30 Vittoriosa Stars vs Dingli Swallows; 15.30 Floriana vs San Ġwann.

Tedesco Stadium: 13.30 Sannat Lions vs St Patrick; 15.30 Marsaxlokk vs Pietà Hotspurs.