Marsaxlokk 1
St Andrew’s 1
St Andrews survived an onslaught from Marsaxlokk in the last 25 minutes to preserve a draw and stay in the hunt for promotion.
The Saints, who had a player sent off midway through the second half, failed to leapfrog Lija at the top of the standings and are now second a point behind.
Marsaxlokk are now joint fourth with Pieta, both on 14 points.
It was Marsaxlokk who went close first when after nine minutes Dylan Micallef sprinted through from the left with his cross shot rolling across the line before finishing wide.
St Andrew’s responded with a Trayo Grozev drive that was deflected to a corner by defender Terrence Farrugia.
Rupert Mangion’s free-kick finished just over the Saints’ bar and Matthew Towns made a fine save off Gary Caruana from just inside the area, tipping the ball for a corner.
But it was St Andrew’s who forged ahead on 22 minutes when Michael Grima hit a powerful drive that left keeper Omar Borg helpless.
Marsaxlokk tried to hit back but the Saints continued to dominate and on 56 minutes a Michael Grima free-kick was well saved by Borg.
But, the southenders did manage to equalise on 65 minutes when the ball came into the path of Gary Caruana in the penalty area but as he was going to shoot he was fouled but William Camilleri. The latter incurred a second yellow card and a sending off and from the penalty Da Silva Silveira made the scores even.
Two minutes later Marsaxlokk could have forged ahead when Gary Caruana turned past a Marsaxlokk man in the area, his cross-shot was deflected by a defender with the ball coming into the path of Da Silva Silveira who drove the ball over the crossbar from close range.
Now it was all Marsaxlokk and on 71 minutes Kenneth Scicluna, venturing forward along with his team-mates in search of a winner, had his shot which looked destined to reach the net, being deflected for a corner.
St Andrew’s responded on 71 minutes through Grozev who after dribbling past three men in the area drove the ball just over the top. The same player had another attempt at goal going wide four minutes later.
Louis Cutajar’s Marsaxlokk continued to push forward with the Saints defending en masse and ultimately succeeding in scraping a useful point thanks to some stout defending and the safe handling of their goalkeeper Towns.
Marsaxlokk: O. Borg, T. Farrugia, M. Brincat, K. Scicluna, R. Mifsud, D. Micallef, D. Attard (D. Grech), A. Grabowski, G. Caruana, R. Mangion, D. Da Silva Silveira.
St Andrew’s: M. Towns, J. Briscoe White, B. Diacono, B. Said, N. Chetcuti, W. Camilleri, M. Grima, J. Farrugia, R. Kerekov (C. Catalan Clement), T. Grozev,. N. Vella Petroni (L. Cesareo).
Referee: Jude Amin Utulu.
Man of the match: Gary Caruana (Marsaxlokk).