VALLETTA-2, ZEBBUG RANGERS-0
Tunisian winger Abdelkarim Nafti produced a man-of-the-match performance to inspire Valletta to a 2-0 victory overr Zebbug Rangers.
The champions had to fight hard to secure the three points as the Rangers battled bravely but Nafti set Valletta on the path to victory when opening the scoring late in the first half and English forward Lateef Elford-Alliyu wrapped up the points with a late second.
It was Valletta's fourth straight win as the champions narrow the gap on Hibs to 12 points before the leaders' match against Balzan this afternoon.
Valletta saw more of the ball in a generally low-key first half but they lacked bite in the final third.
Inside the opening three minutes, Valletta forward Lateef Elford-Alliyu freed Abdelkarim Nafti who had raced into the box from the left but the Tunisian's grounder was stopped by goalkeeper Manuel Bartolo, who was facing his former team.
The Rangers also created a good move when captain Matias Muchardi supplied a through-ball to Mauricio Britto who sped into the box but Steve Borg came dashing back in to boot the ball away from the Brazilian.
The champions were a pale shadow of their usual selves in the opening minutes but they still dominated the proceedings.
Jonathan Caruana passed the ball to Nafti whose curling shot was high and wide.
There was an anxious moment for Valletta when Muchardi, Zebbug's key man in midfield, exchanged passes with Britto but Rashid lifted his shot over the bar.
The game remained dull but, nine minutes from half-time, Valletta thought that they had forced a breakthrough when Nafti's corner sailed dangerously towards goal but the ball came off the inside of the far post before Zebbug cleared.
Nafti was then foiled by Bartolo after the City winger was put through by Briffa.
Valletta improved in the final minutes of the first half and their efforts produced a goal on 41 minutes.
Barry tricked his way into the box before squaring the ball to Elford-Alliyu who was surrounded by a posse of yellow-shirted players. The English forward did well to cut the ball back to Nafti who drilled his shot past Bartolo.
Valletta threatened to increase their lead when Briffa's pass found Barry inside the box but the Gambian's grounder was stopped by the alert Bartolo.
As the second half got underway, the Citizens upped the pressure but Zebbug had a good chance to level matters.
Muchardi laid the ball to Thomas Paris whose well-struck effort ended just wide of the post.
In their next attack, Valletta looked odds-on to extend their lead as Nafti sped past two defenders as he raced towards the byline but his angled shot cannoned off the underside of the crossbar.
At the other end, a shot by Caruana was easily saved by Bartolo. A brilliant one-two between the overlapping Ryan Camilleri and Briffa opened up the Rangers defence but the former's cross-cum-shot was too central to trouble Bartolo.
Valletta sealed the issue 14 minutes from time. Barry played a crucial role as he outfoxed Bartolo and dribbled his way towards the byline before laying the ball back to Elford-Alliyu who stabbed home from routine distance.
Late on, Llywelyn Cremona, who had just replaced Nafti, hit the crossbar with a strong shot from the distance.
Nafti was named BOV player of the match.