Balzan FC joined Hibernians and Żejtun Corinthians at the top of the Premier League standings after overcoming Floriana in match-day four of the futsal championship at the Corradino Pavilion.
This was expected to be a balanced match following Floriana’s string of positive results in the league of late but Balzan dominated from start to finish for a comfortable 6-0 victory.
Floriana sorely felt the absence of a couple of their key players. They did offer some resistance to the champions at first but Balzan’s collective effort finally came out for the team to prevail.
St Andrew’s negative streak continued when they lost to Sliema Wanderers 5-4.
As the scoreline shows, this game was quite balanced but the inclusion of Omar El Ghaouti in the Sliema team gave them an edge, helping the side to bag their first points in the championship as Simone Montagno’s Saints are starting to lose sight of a berth in the play-offs.
As expected, Hibernians and Tarxien claimed easy wins over Valleta and Ħamrun Spartans respectively.
Hibernians beat Valletta 12-1. However, it was only after the 10th minute of the game that the Paolites had succeeded in opening the score.
Up to that juncture, Hibs had failed to produce their best with the Citizens adopting abrasive tactics that eventually yielded no dividends and only led them to their fifth foul with ten minutes of playing time remaining. Bulgarian international Boichev scored one of the best goals in this comprehensive win for Hibs.
The Rainbows, despite having player coach Gabriel Dobre suspended, crushed Ħamrun 12-3.
The Spartans did have a good first half and led 2-1 at the interval.
But Tarxien’s character emerged in second half with young Giancarlo Sammut showing some clever touches for his team.
This was Ħamrun’s fourth successive defeat that leaves them rooted to the bottom of the standings and staring relega-tion to Division One at season’s end.
Standings
Balzan (3-1-0) 10; Hibernians (3-1-0) 10; Żejtun (3-1-0) 10; Floriana (3-0-1) 9; Lija (2-1-1) 7; Tarxien (2-0-2) 6; Sliema (1-0-3) 3; St Andrew’s (0-1-3) 1; Valletta (0-1-3) 1; Ħamrun (0-0-4) 0.
Note: Last night’s matches not included.
Playing Friday: 20.00 Balzan vs Tarxien. 21.30 Hibernians vs Sliema Wanderers.