Champions Valletta were aiming to begin the Championship Pool with a three-point lead over Hibs at the top but failed to reach their short-term objective after being held to a 1-1 draw by neighbouring rivals Floriana on Sunday.

The third-placed Greens surprised the Citizens by taking an 11th-minute lead through Ivan Woods but Valletta levelled on the stroke of half-time thanks to Ousseni Zongo’s perfectly-flighted free-kick.

A tight second half failed to produce more goals as the enterprising Floriana held firm to gain a richly-deserved point.

The draw meant that Valletta ended the first phase of the championship four points clear of Hibs but that has been whittled down to two as the tallies of the 12 teams have been halved ahead of the start of the final part.

Hibs kept up the pressure on the leaders with a crushing 6-1 win over Mqabba. The Paolites struck five times in the first half through Marcelo Dias, who scored a brace, Edward Herrera, Luis Edison ‘Tarabai’, from a penalty, and an own goal by Pierre Grima.

Herrera rounded the scoring early in the second half. Serbian striker Bojan Mamic had brought Mqabba temporarily on level terms midway through the first half.

Sliema Wanderers and Birkirkara will start their top-six commitments level on 18 points after both emerged winners last weekend.

Emiliano Lattes and Anicet Eyenga were on target early in the second half as Sliema had the better of Mosta 2-0 on Saturday. Mosta finished the match with 10 men after Ian Zammit was sent off six minutes from time.

Brazilian forward Jorge hit a brace as Birkirkara beat Ħamrun Spartans 3-1 in Sunday’s first game. Nigerian Shola Shodiya Haruna scored Birkirkara’s other goal, eight minutes from half-time, with Brazilian striker Anderson Ribeiro pulling one back for the Spartans on 66 minutes.

Balzan Youths won the two-way race with Qormi for the sixth and final spot in the Championship Pool after a 1-0 win over Tarxien Rainbows kept them two points ahead of their fellow challengers.

Pedrinho’s well-hit free-kick after 19 minutes was enough for Balzan to edge out Tarxien at the Tedesco Stadium.

At the Hibs Stadium, Qormi came from behind to scrape past Marsaxlokk who had Trevor Templeman dismissed after only 22 minutes.

Alex Cesar Pedrozo gave Marsaxlokk a shock lead after 32 minutes but Qormi overturned the deficit before half-time with goals from Jorginho and Triston Caruana.

Premier League statistics

Scorers, red cards

Balzan Youths: Pedrinho 7 (1 pen), Ciantar 6; Bright 5; Grima 2; Tasic, Camilleri, Farrugia, Forace, Bernardes.
Own goal: Camilleri (vs Ħamrun).
Red cards: Pedrinho (vs Qormi, vs Mqabba), Francica (vs Hibs; vs Sliema), Forace (vs Tarxien), C. Ciantar (vs Valletta, vs Floriana), Guga (vs Valletta).

Birkirkara: Avila Perez 10; Jorge 7 (three for Sliema); Cilia 4 (3 pens); Grech 2, Pereira 2, Vella 2 (1 pen), Bajada 2, Haruna 2; Buhagiar, Zerafa, Muscat, Fenech, Mifsud Triganza, Camilleri.
Red cards: Decesare (vs Mosta), Grech (vs Qormi), Avila Perez, Bajada (vs Mosta), Decesare, Pereira (vs Hibs).

Floriana: Caruana 6, Grabowski 6, Woods 6 (2 pens); Micallef 3; Cassar 2, Mintoff 2, J. Borg 2; Odwong, Farrugia, Darmanin, Sodje, C. Borg, Alandson.
Own goal: Everton (vs Tarxien).
Red cards: Amamoo (vs Sliema); Bartolo (vs Birkirkara, vs Balzan), Akoto (vs Qormi).

Ħamrun Spartans: Grima 7, Ribeiro 7; Shields 6 (2 pens); Calabretta 3; Sammut 2; Luis Silva, Toneto Porcari, Agius, Polli, Hartvig.
Own goal: Bugeja (vs Floriana).
Red cards: Agius (vs Balzan), Polli (vs Birkirkara), Sammut (vs Balzan), Borg (vs Qormi).

Hibs: Edison 19 (2 pens); Failla 11 (1 pen); Cohen 6; Lima 6 (four for Sliema); Pisani 3, Anizoba 3, Dias 3, Herrera 3; Caruana 2, Soares 2.
Own goal: Grima (vs Mqabba).
Red cards: Pulis (vs Valletta), Dias (vs Birkirkara).

Marsaxlokk: Deanov 4; Farrugia 3; Templeman 2 (1 pen), Lattes 2; Pedrozo, Kokavessis, Campagnoli, Oladotun.
Red cards: Templeman (vs Hibernians, vs Qormi), Brincat (vs Qormi), Valeriani (vs Valletta).

Mosta: Obiefule 18 (1 pen; 10 goals with Marsaxlokk); Zammit 5 (1 pen); Martin 3, Mvondo 3; Aboulezz, Arilson, Borg.
Own goal: Buhagiar (vs Birkirkara).
Red cards: Ossok (vs Hibs); Tisbi (vs Qormi), Martin (vs Tarxien), Raimy (vs Mqabba), Zammit (vs Sliema).

Mqabba: Mamic 9 (1 pen); Mazzitelli 7 (1 pen); Nwoba 2; Azzopardi, Briffa, Potezica, Bonnici, Timotic, Muscat, Sammut.
Red cards: Mazzitelli (vs Marsaxlokk), Mamic (vs Hibs), Timotic (vs Hibs), Psaila (vs Qormi), Fenech (vs Mosta).

Qormi: Jorginho 11 (2 pens); Farrugia 10 (5 pens); Bello Osagie 5; Nwoke 4; Bondin 2; Bartolo, Sciberras, Caio, Caruana.
Red cards: Duff (vs Birkirkara), Jorginho (vs Floriana), Sammut (vs Sliema).

Sliema: Mitev 8 (4 pens); Bajada 4; Mifsud Triganza 2, Ani 2, Frendo 2, Lattes 2, Eyenga 2; Scerri, Galabov, Fenech, A. Muscat, Bogdanovic.
Red cards: Scerri (vs Hibs), Grech (vs Floriana), Mitev (vs Marsaxlokk; vs Balzan), Mifsud (vs Hibs, vs Tarxien), B. Muscat (vs Birkirkara, vs Qormi).

Tarxien Rainbows: Bueno 7 (1 pen), Ricardo 6 (1 pen); Mayasi 2 (1 pen); Anonam 2, Galvao 2, Carabott 2; Pulo, Everton.
Own goal: Pereira (vs Birkirkara).
Red cards: Anonam (vs Mosta), Costa (vs Balzan; Mosta), Caio (vs Valletta), Everton (vs Balzan)

Valletta: Denni 9, Effiong 9; Mifsud 7 (1 pen), Barbosa 7 (1 pen), Zongo 7; Borg 4 (1 pen); Briffa 3; Pace 2, G. Agius 2; Caruana, Cekulajevs.
Red cards: G. Agius, Borg, Fenech (vs Hibs).

Standings

Note: In brackets team points at the start of second phase.

Next fixtures
Friday: Tedesco Stadium – 18.00 Marsaxlokk vs Qormi; 20.15 Tarxien Rainbows vs Mqabba.
Saturday: National Stadium – 14.00 Birkirkara vs Floriana; 16.00 Hibs vs Sliema Wanderers.
Sunday: Hibs Stadium – 14.00 Mosta vs Ħamrun Spartans; 16.00 Balzan Youths vs Valletta.