Gudja United 1
Marsaxlokk 3

Marsaxlokk moved up to fifth place in the standings, only five points behind leaders Naxxar Lions and Vittoriosa Stars, to maintain their outside chances for promotion after easily disposing of a below-par Gudja side at the Centenary Stadium, yesterday.

Gudja played the last half hour with a numerical advantage but still found it hard to find a way through and it was only a Cosmin Anton goal very late in the match that made the score look more respectable.

Gudja started well and on 15 minutes Jean Louis Atangana Ekoba was foiled by goalkeeper Omar Borg who saved his point blank effort after a good run by Peter Paul Sammut.

Marsaxlokk opened the score on 20 minutes and never looked back after that. Douglas da Silva Silveira rose high to head home a Dylon Micallef centre.

The seasiders made it 2-0 when Silveira’s class again came to the fore after beating a defender on the flank before cutting inside the box and releasing Gary Caruana who fired the ball home.

Two minutes before the break Silveira’s free-kick left goalkeeper Kurt Baldacchino helpless for Marsaxlokk to go in leading 3-0.

The second half was less attractive though particularly after Marsaxlokk’s Rupert Mangion was sent off on 60 minutes for dissent.

Gudja tried to profit from the situation and a free-kick by Emerson Vella was saved by Borg. At the other end, Dylan Micallef dribbled past two players with his grounder saved by Baldacchino.

Gudja were unable to pierce the Marsaxlokk defensive lines but just before the final whistle substitute Anton hit an unstoppable shot past Borg and into the net. However, his effort came too late for Gudja to save the match.

Gudja: K. Baldacchino (M. Xer-xen), E. Bugeja, E. Vella, J. Tonna, G. Abela, N. Alnoudji, K. Azzo-pardi (R. Sell), D. Cachia, P.P. Sammut, J.L. Atangana Ekobo (C. Anton), K. Aleksandrov.

Marsaxlokk: O. Borg, R. Mifsud, K. Scicluna, M.P. Clarke, M. Brincat, R. Xuereb (D. Attard), G. Caruana, D. Micallef, R. Mangion, D. Grech (D. Fava), D. Da Silva Silveira.

Referee: Jude Amin Utulu.

Man of the match: Douglas Da Silva Silveira (Marsaxlokk).

  P W D L F A Pts
Naxxar Lions 17 10 4 3 35 16 34
Vittoriosa 17 10 4 3 28 21 34
Pietà Hotspurs 17 10 3 4 36 16 33
Lija Athletic 17 10 2 5 31 25 32
Marsaxlokk 17 8 5 4 31 24 29
St Andrew’s 17 8 3 6 32 27 27
Gudja United 17 7 5 5 29 23 26
Żejtun Cor. 17 5 6 6 17 21 21
Gżira United 17 4 6 7 20 23 18
Dingli 17 3 3 11 13 37 12
Birżebbuġa 17 2 4 11 20 39 10
Mqabba 17 0 5 12 16 36 5

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.