Nadur Youngsters 1
Kercem Ajax 1
(Nadur win 5-3 on penalties)

Nadur Youngsters won the 24th Independence Cup competition this week after beating Kercem Ajax in a penalty shoot-out. It was Nadur's seventh success in this pre-season competition.

Nadur, with new coach Patrick Vassallo at the helm and newcomer Chidi-eric Nkwanko in the squad, showed better consistently throughout the tournament.

Kercem improved match after match but suffered badly when key players Mark Marlow and Elton Vella were dismissed in the crucial stages of the competition.

Marlow is the new player-coach at Kercem who also acquired the services of keeper Isidoru Grech, Roger Walker, Mario Cutajar, Gotthard Conti and Nenad Veselji.

The final on Tuesday started with a minute's silence in memory of Ghajnsielem player Joseph Attard, 28, who passed away this week.

Nadur looked the more enterprising side at the start but it was Kerçem who opened the score after 17 minutes thanks to a spectacular Conti volley from a Vella cross.

Vella, however, marred his day a few minutes later when he got sent off for retaliation.

With Walker dictating matters at the back, Nadur were finding it hard to profit from the numerical advantage. From a swift break, Conti found the Nadur net again but his goal was disallowed for offside.

Grech came to Kercem's rescue on more than one occasion after the break as Nadur now intensified their attacks. Fourteen minutes from time they succeeded in levelling matters from a Nkwanko header after some good work on the flank by Anthony Portelli.

The match dragged into extra time with Nadur seeing more of the ball but Kercem holding tight with a player less. Joseph Grech's header was stopped on the Nadur goal-line by keeper Kevin Vella and at the other end a Simoncic header was blocked in time by defender John Grech.

It had to be the penalty shoot-out to decide the outcome. Nadur seemed better prepared here as they scored all their five penalty kicks. Conti missed the first attempt for Kercem and that was decisive.

Referee: Kevin Azzopardi.

Competition Results

Preliminary round: Qala SJ 4 Oratory 0; Ghajnsielem 2 Sannat 0; Kerçem 4 SK Victoria Wanderers 3; Victoria Hotspurs 2 Xaghra 0.

Quarter-finals: Qala 1 Xewkija 3; Ghajnsielem 2 Nadur 3; Kercem 4 St Lawrence 2; Victoria Hotspurs 0 Zebbug Rovers 2.

Semi-finals: Xewkija 2 Nadur 4; Kercem 2 Zebbug 0.