Sirens 2
Rabat Ajax 0

A goal in each half from Miguel Ciantar enabled Sirens to make it two wins in a row yesterday and close the gap on their promotion  rivals.

The St Paul’s Bay side have now joined Senglea Athletic in fifth place in the standings on 23 points, albeit the Cottonera side have a game in hand.

Rabat, who have lost defensive midfielder Neil Caruana as he was forced to retire due to a series of injuries, remain fourth from bottom, just two points clear of the drop zone.

Sirens were the livelier side in the first 45 minutes and on 13 minutes Tyrone Farrugia headed wide from routine distance following a Ciantar corner kick.

Rabat’s response arrived on 15 minutes when an Aidan Azzopardi shot was well saved by Jean-Matthias Vella who was making his first appearance since arriving on loan from Qormi.

Sirens remained the more dangerous side and on 21 minutes Ekani Rodriguez stole possession inside the area but his shot was saved by Andrew Zammit.

Orosco Anonam’s team found the breakthrough on 32 minutes when Ekani’s shot was partially saved by Zammit and from the rebound Ciantar drilled the ball home from a close angle.

The second half was more balanced and on 64 minutes a Matthew Bartolo effort from just inside the area just missed the target.

Fifteen minutes from time Robert Vaduva was released by Bartolo but was brought down in the area by goalkeeper Zammit.

From the resultant penalty, Ciantar stepped up to send the Magpies goalkeeper the wrong way and put the game to bed.

Sirens: J.M. Vella, D. Sant, T. Farrugia, M. Bartolo, L. Zammit, J. Ekani Rodriguez, M. Ciantar, R. Sala (C. Caruana), J.N. Azzopardi, L. Grech (C. Newuche), R. Vaduva (D. Martini).

Rabat Ajax: A. Zammit, S. Abela, J. Caruana, S. Gauci, B. Micallef, D. Falzon, G. Bugeja, E.J. Goodman, C. Vella (O. Touray), A. Azzopardi (I. Abela), Z. Tanti.

Referee: Fyodor Zammit.

Best Player: Miguel Ciantar (Sirens).