Balzan leapfrogged Mosta back into the fourth place with an uplifting 1-0 victory.

Oliver Spiteri’s men had to wait 10 games and three months to register their fifth league win in the premier league as they overcame Mosta who played for an hour with 10 men following the dismissal of Bojan Kaljevic.

Mosta have succumbed to back-to-back defeats for the first time since Peter Smith replaced Enrico Balzan came close to breaking the deadlock in their first noteworthy attack three minutes from half-time. Darmanin met Justin Grioli’s service with a header but the ball crashed against the goal frame.

But Balzan were not to be denied four minutes after the break. Running on to Luke Sciberras’s floated through-pass, Edison David Bilbao Zarate beat the advancing Omar Borg with a cute lob.

Spiteri’s troops maintained a stranglehold on the game as the lethargic Mosta failed to summon a reaction. Barely three minutes later, Borg produced a smart save to parry away Osa Guobadia’s rasping drive.

Mosta did step up their efforts to get back into contention, past the hour mark. Pedrinho went close to restore parity as his swerving free-kick grazed the Balzan upright. When Mosta broke on the counter seven minutes later, Balzan looked vulnerable at the back as Matteus dashed across the box to shot over the bar.

Three minutes from time, Mosta should have equalised when Matteus sped clear before shooting straight at Steve Sultana’s hands.

In a tense finale, Mosta finished the game with nine men after Pedrinho earned his second bookable offence, before Oscar Guerrero followed suit for wasting time.

The match ended in disarray as Mosta supporters clashed with their Balzan counterparts outside the stadium as a Mosta supporter in the Vip area and team manager Adrian Farrugia had to be restrained by the police after vividly protested as referee Mario Apap made his way to the dressing room.