Zach Muscat sees further room for improvement as Arezzo strengthened their grip on third place in the Lega Pro ‘A’ after beating Renate 3-1 at home, on Sunday.

The Malta defender was again in the starting formation after his man-of-the-match performance in the 1-1 draw with Livorno the week before. He played the full 90 minutes against Renate.

Alessandro Polidori and Frabio Foglia gave Arezzo a 2-0 lead.

Marco Anghileri’s shot took a deflection off Muscat and into the net as Renate pulled one back but Paolo Grossi converted a penalty to seal the victory.

“It was a great team performance,” Muscat was quoted as saying after the match.

“A lot has been said on how we must become stronger but against Renate I think we showed that we have improved a lot. Third place in the table mirrors the excellent work put in by the team but there’s always room for progress.

“We need to continue working hard and not lose focus to sustain our promotion challenge.”

On Sunday, Muscat played alongside Matteo Solini in the absence of regular Alex Sirri who started a four-match ban.

“It was nothing new really as we played a few matches together in pre-season and the partnership was always good,” Muscat said.

“There’s great teamwork between us so it’s easier to play together.”

Arezzo will hope to remain on the winning trail on Sunday when they travel to 17th-placed Pistoiese in another league match.

Gambin goal

In England’s League Two, Luke Gambin was on target as Barnet edged ten-man Hartlepool in a five-goal thriller last weekend.

The Bees trailed 2-0 after 53 minutes but Hartlepool were then reduced to 10 men when Liam Donnelly was shown a red card.

Barnet made the most of the extra man as John Akinde scored from a penalty and Gambin restored parity when he whipped the ball home from a free-kick.

Shaun Batt grabbed the winner 11 minutes from time to lift Barnet to 14th place in the standings on 19 points, three away from the play-offs zone.

On Sunday, Andrè Schembri played for 67 minutes as Boavista could not go beyond a goalless draw at home to Portuguese league strugglers Estoril.

The Malta striker retained his place in Erwin Sanchez’s XI but was replaced by Erivelto as relegation-threatened Estoril hung on for the point.

Victory would have lifted Boavista to sixth place. Next weekend they play mid-table Rio Ave hoping to chalk up their third win from 10 matches.

Elsewhere, Sam Magri’s Dover Athletic crashed to a 4-1 defeat at home to Tranmere Rovers.

The Malta U-21 defender was on the pitch for the entire match but could do nothing as the hosts threw away an early lead before conceding a heavy defeat to the Rovers.

Dover Athletic slipped to seventh in the table, three points adrift of Barrow who fill the last promotion play-off spot.

Next Saturday, Dover play in the first round of the FA Cup away to Cambridge United.

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