Balzan maintained their fine form of late in the Premier Division after seeing off Żebbuġ Rangers 8-0 to join Luxol St Andrew’s on 12 points at the top of the standings. Both front-runners are still unbeaten in the championship.

Croatia international Frane Despotovic scored a hat-trick for the champions with the other Balzan goals coming from Carl Azzopardi, Glenn Bonello, Matthew Attard, Boycho Marev and Nicola Del Re.

The shock result of the week at the Corradino Pavilion was Qormi’s unexpected 8-1 win over Valletta.

This was Qormi’s first win of the season as their star player Blendi Gockaj hit four goals.

Darren Agius set Qormi on the way to victory as Mario Gaffiero’s men frustrated Valletta with their organised play in attack and defence.

Valletta did try to stage a reaction in the second half and pulled one back on 22 minutes through Kurt Bartolo. However, that was as good as it got for the Citizens as Gockaj continued to inspire his team-mates with Marwan Telisi netting twice to put his name on the scoresheet.

In another match, Swieqi produced a stunning comeback as they hit back from three goals down to beat Mosta 7-5.

Dario Zampa scored a hat-trick for Swieqi while Zvezdan Vukovic and Fredrick Johansson struck a brace for the winners.

In the Division One top-of-the-table clash, Mellieħa had the better of Lija 8-6 to take sole leadership.

Lija grabbed the lead early on but the northerners levelled matters and went on to turn the tables before half-time.

Mellieħa extended their lead to 6-2 but Lija fought back to level matters at 6-6 with a minute left.

Lija thought they had saved the match but Mellieħa successfully converted a free-shot 42 seconds from the end and found time to score again, leaving Lija frustrated.

Nikolay Filipov was Mellieħa’s best player as he netted six goals with Robert Magro and Darren Aitchinson getting the other two.

Aleksandar Ribic scored a hat-trick for Lija, Antonio Marin grabbed a brace and Mark Mizzi netted once.

Standings

Premier Division: Luxol, Balzan 12; Ħamrun, Swieqi 9; Qormi, Valletta, Żebbuġ 3; Mosta, Gżira 0.

First Division: Mellieħa 18; Lija 15; Naxxar 13; Luqa 12; Mqabba, Attard, Sirens 8; Siġġiewi 6; Mdina, Qrendi 4; Msida 3; Birżebbuġa 1.

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