Xewkija Tigers striker Daniel Bogdanovic (left) forces his way past Kevin Farrugia, of Oratory Youths. Photo: Philip Sammut

Xewkija Tigers and Nadur Youngsters maintained their march at the top of the GFA Division One standings last weekend after wins over Oratory Youths and Kerċem Ajax, respectively.

Xewkija were too strong for the Youths as the 6-2 scoreline amply illustrates.

The Tigers scored five goals in the first half with John Camilleri and Daniel Bogdanovic both netting a double and Dene Shields adding a penalty on the half-hour mark.

Shields struck the sixth goal for Xewkija on 60 minutes and Oratory made the score look more respectable late on with two goals, both penalties, scored by Shaun Attard.

Unlike Xewkija, Nadur had to sweat for the three points and only managed to secure victory in stoppage time against a battling Kerċem side .

Nadur opened the scoring on 38 minutes when Josef Buttigieg hit home after profiting from a defensive blunder.

Malcolm Vella and Andrew Mizzi had good chances to get Kerċem back on level terms but were found wanting in attack.

Brazilian Anderson Ribeiro got the equaliser before the break.

Kerċem held the upperhand but Nadur gradually regained their composure. They had to wait until the fourth minute of stoppage time to score the winner when Claudio Antunes’s free-kick took a deflection off substitute Joseph Vella and finished in the Ajax net.

In another match, SK Victoria Wanderers bounced back from two consecutive defeats with a 2-0 win over Sannat Lions.

Spanish striker Adolfo Sanz Ortiz again stole the limelight for the Wanderers after scoring the goals that mattered in the opening half.

Sannat were unlucky not to pull a goal back after the break but efforts by Fernando de Andrade (52) and Nicholas Micallef (86) were stopped by the woodwork.

Victoria Hotspurs at last shrugged off their poor start to the season with a 5-2 win over bottom team St Lawrence Spurs.

The Hotspurs began strongly but were shocked on 10 minutes as St Lawrence took the lead through Shaun Mizzi who hit home from a William Barbosa free-kick.

Barbosa almost made it 2-0 but the Hotspurs regrouped to turn the result in their favour with four goals without reply through Moussa Bamba (22), Ferdinando Apap (34) and a Jason Pace (39, 41) double.

St Lawrence scored their second goal through Mambaye Boye (55) but on 70 minutes Bamba sealed victory for the Citizens.

Division Two

The first round of the Division Two league came to a close last weekend with leaders Għajn-sielem thrashing Żebbuġ Rovers 4-1 to make it five wins in as many matches.

The Blacks scored their goals through Jason Portelli (38, 47) and Kenny Hili (67, 71).

Manwel Cordina had made the scores level at one-all before half-time but the Rovers’ resistance collapsed after the break.

In other matches, Munxar Falcons consolidated second place in the standings with a 1-0 win over Qala Saints, thanks to a second-half Gary Hili goal, while Għarb Rangers obtained their second win after beating Xagħra United 2-0.

Justin Azzopardi (45) and Frank Attard (61) converted penalties to hand Għarb the three points.

Xagħra United goalkeeper Daniel Galea was sent off in the action that led to the second penalty.