Lija Athletic 3
Msida St Joseph 0
Lija Athletic found little difficulty in having the better of a young Msida side who were coming from two comprehensive defeats against Mosta and Melita respectively.
Despite suffering their third successive defeat, the Saints showed marked improvement in their performance even though more was expected from Lija.
Lija forged ahead after 15 minutes when striker Wayne Borg St John was too fast for the Lija defence as he raced to an Andrea Spiteri long ball and shoot home.
Lija continued to dictate matters but although they had most of the possession they failed to trouble Jeremy Alden in the Msida goal.
The Saints had a good opportunity to level matters when in the 36th minute Adrian Farrugia’s shot was partially saved by Sean Mintoff.
Lija could have easily scored a second when Andrea Spiteri tried a cross-shot from the left flank with Antoine Sacco hitting the foot of the post in an attempt to force the ball home.
Msida were unlucky not to pull a goal back in the 54th minute when Matthew Borda found himself unmarked but his close range effort was somehow kept out by Alden.
Three minutes later it was Lija who almost made it 2-0 when Sacco’s cross was met by Marko Potezika whose first time effort just missed the target.
On 62 minutes, Admir Dzanovic had a good drive turned to a corner by the Saints custodian and from the resulting corner, taken by Matthew Fleri Soler, Sacco headed the ball home.
Despite holding a two-goal advantage, Lija continued to press forward and it was no surprise that they made it 3-0 ten minutes from time.
Substitute Ayrton Buhagiar drove the ball home after he controlled well a bad clearance from a Dzanovic cross.
Lija: S. Mintoff, A. Spiteri (A. Scicluna), D. Caruana, M. Fleri Soler, D. Scerri, A. Sacco, M. Potezika, W. Borg St John (A. Buhagiar), G. Barry (K. Darmanin), T. Fleri Soler, A. Dzanovic.
Msida: J. Alden (D.Borda), A. Farrugia, L. Cassar, C. Cioffi, M. Borda, K. Caruana, N. Curmi, D. Gatt, L. Micallef (D. Debono), S. Costa Brazilino (R. Caruana), P. Saklai.
Referee: Sammy Attard.