Hotspurs join Nadur at the top

Victoria Hotspurs cruised to a 5-0 victory over Kerċem Ajax in the last match from the first round of the championship to join Nadur Youngsters at the top of the standings.

Bottom-placed Kerċem were well-organised in defence and played at a par with their opponents. However, their challenge fizzled out after the Citizens opened the score through Uchenna Anyanwu five minutes from the break.

The Hotspurs doubled the score on 54 minutes through Oliver Farrugia and the Ajax's fort collapsed after that. Eric Nkwankwo made it 3-0 on 70 minutes and substitute Reuben Mercieca increased the Hotspurs' advantage seven minutes from time.

Anyanwu completed the rout with a fifth goal on 86 minutes.

In another match, Sannat Lions and SK Victoria Wanderers figured in a two-all draw.

Both sides were looking to recover from defeats in their previous matches. It was the Lions who had the better start and opened a two-goal lead by the 25th minute following goals from Nikolai Filipov and Fernando de Andrade.

However, the Wanderers produced a strong reaction and two goals by Manuel Cordina brought them back on level terms by half-time.

Both teams tried hard to score a winner after the break but in the end a draw was a just result.

Division Two

Joint leaders St Lawrence Spurs and Xagħra United bagged maximum points from their last outings.

The Spurs were made to fight hard for a 1-0 win over Oratory Youths. The decisive goal arrived on 22 minutes, scored by player-coach Gothard Conti.

Xagħra found it hard initially to break down Żebbuġ Rovers' resistance but after scoring the opener, albeit from an own goal by Gabriel Sillato just before the break, they never looked back.

Xagħra dominated play and hit two more goals on the changeover through Johan Attard and substitute Daniel Bartolo.