Xagħra consolidate lead in Division Two

Leaders Xagħra United came from behind to edge Oratory Youths 3-2 in a GFA Division Two match last weekend. In other matches, Munxar Falcons stunned Qala St Joseph and Żebbuġ Rovers had the better of lowly Għarb Rangers in a high-scoring encounter.

Xagħra, the promotion favourites, fell behind after 18 minutes when Grech put Oratory ahead. The Blues recovered from that shock to level the score with an Eman Bugeja penalty on 31 minutes.

Three minutes from half-time, Michael Bezzina's shot surprised Vella in in the Oratory goal and in first-half added time Daniel Bartolo increased Xagħra's lead with a header from a corner.

Oratory staged a strong reaction after the break, going close to reducing the deficit through efforts by Dione Lautier and George Louis Zammit. They pulled one back through George Caruana but Xagħra held off their opponents' late efforts to secure the points.

Qala suffered their third consecutive defeat after losing 1-0 to Munxar.

Munxar were the better side but they found it hard to turn their superiority into goals. In fact, they had to wait until four minutes from time to score the winning goal when substitute Joseph Mizzi hit home from a penalty.

Qala finished the match with 10 players after substitute Jonathan Bajada was sent off for dissent.

Żebbuġ gained their first points with a 4-2 victory over Għarb.

The Rovers raced into a 4-0 lead inside the half hour thanks to goals by Abdul Mutalib, Chris Gafa (2) and Franco Magrin.

Roy Vella gave Rangers hope when hitting a quick-fire double between the 49th and 52nd minutes but Żebbuġ regained control to preserve victory.