Kerċem Ajax and Victoria Hotspurs stepped up their challenge in the GFA Division One following wins over SK Victoria Wanderers and Oratory Youths respectively to keep their Championship Pool chances alive.
Kerċem beat the Wanderers 3-2, a repeat of the scoreline in the corresponding first-round match.
The Wanderers showed good form during the first half, taking the lead through Ajibade Adesina on 33 minutes.
But Kerċem turned the result in their favour after the break with goals from Anderson Ribeiro, Petar Kyumyurdzhiev (penalty) and Andrew Mizzi.
The final minutes of the match saw the Wanderers hit back strongly and on 86 minutes Adesina scored again to set up an interesting finale.
Victoria came close to saving the match deep into stoppage time but a free-kick by newcomer Kalin Ganchev hit the crossbar.
Victoria Hotspurs hammered Oratory Youths 6-1 to gain revenge for their first-round upset.
The Hotspurs went all out in attack but had to wait until the 44th minute to open the scoring when Nikola Vasilic netted from close distance.
The Serb added two goals as the second half got underway, following two inviting deliveries by Antoine Camilleri, to kill Oratory’s hopes.
Rodney Buttigieg was unlucky to see his shot hit the bar and bounce on the line, with Camilleri heading badly from the rebound.
Buttigieg, however, did manage to beat keeper Franklin Vella with a tap-in.
Twelve minutes from time Oratory scored a consolation goal from a penalty, awarded for a foul on Mark Camilleri and converted by Shaun Attard.
But the Hotspurs continued to dominate and rounded up the match with goals from Ferdinando Apap (83) and Michael Bezzina (90+4).
Division Two
Għajnsielem were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by Żebbuġ Rovers.
The two goals were scored in the opening minutes of the match with player-coach Sylvan Galea on the mark for the Rovers and Stefan Azzopardi for the Blacks.
Għajnsielem, who had several regulars missing, were far off their best and Żebbuġ had a couple of scoring chances in the second half.
In the other match, Għarb Rangers beat Xagħra United 2-0 to go third in the table and leave their opponents rock bottom.
Rangers scored a goal in each half through Noel Borg (30) and Josef Muscat (75) as an erratic Xagħra ended the match with ten men after Aleandro Bezzina was sent off 14 minutes from time.