Young Stars 10
White Hart 0

It took just 12 minutes for Young Stars to break down White Hart’s defence when Clive Williams netted a reverse stick shot from the left side of the D.

The Stars continued to press forward and White Hart’s Patrick Meli cleared a ball spectacularly off the line with his goalkeeper beaten.

White Hart hit back but did not take advantage of three penalty corner attempts. They were unlucky not to equalise when soon after Keith Laferla hit the post.

The game then turned on its head when Luke Borg Costanzi scored for Young Stars and they netted again on 33 minutes when Williams calmly converted a penalty stroke.

Jamie Mifsud notched the Stars’ fourth goal a minute later, a lead they maintained up to the break.

The second half turned into a one-sided affair with Mark Camilleri making it 5-0 as a result of a penalty corner action.

Borg Costanzi then grabbed his second, and Young Stars’ sixth, and on 51 minutes he completed his hat-trick as White Hart’s defence was being breached with ease.

Camilleri made it 8-0 and there was still time for the Stars to add two more goals to their tally when Samuel Borg scored the ninth and Borg Costanzi his fourth to give Young Stars a comprehensive victory that pushed them to the top of the Hockey Association of Malta league table.

Umpires: Luke Busuttil Leaver and Manuel Imbroll.

Sliema Hotsticks 2
Rabat 3

Both teams spent the first quarter of the game sizing each other up with play concentrated in midfield.

Hotsticks did not take advantage of two penalty corners and play continued to be intense with defences on top until the 27th minute when at the first time of asking Rabat went ahead after Shawn Falzon slotted home.

The Sliema team then missed a golden opportunity to equalse when Steve Cachia fluffed his shot when in clear sight of goal

But, six minutes into the second half the scores became even when a speculative hit into the D was deflected into the net off the goalkeeper’s pads.

Rabat hit back immediately and James Azzopardi shot them into a 2-1 lead from a penalty corner.

The game swung from end to end. Steve Portelli hit the bar for the Hotsticks and a minute later Rabat intercepted a pass in midfield with Jonathan Micallef lashing on to the ball and beating the goalkeeper to send his team into a 3-1 lead.

Hotsticks pressed forward and for a second time Portelli was denied by the bar. Almost immediately he just missed the target, hitting a delightful reverse stick shot from the top of the D.

On 66 minutes, Julian Zahra grabbed Hotsticks’ second but despite increasing their efforts, Rabat hung on to register a narrow victory and move into third place in the table.

Umpires: Reno Cremona and Andre Ghio.