League champions Hibernians had mixed luck in a week where they gained their ninth consecutive win in the FXDD Premier Division but then failing to convince in the KO competition.
In a hard-fought league match, Hibs beat San Ġwann 5-4.
Tension was at its peak when with only a few seconds to go the score was tied at four-all.
It looked as though Hibs were going to drop their first points but Cedric Sciberras scored to give his side a useful victory that keeps them joint first in the table with Luxol ahead of this week’s matches.
Luxol found no difficulty in beating Birżebbuġa 10-2 to maintain their perfect record.
The seasiders were hardly ever in the match with Luxol dominating and scoring nine of their goals in the first half.
Luxol player-coach Florin Anton was twice on the mark besides masterminding his team’s moves with clear passes and good leadership.
Balzan also maintained the pace with the leaders after beating Vittoriosa Stars 10-2 to clinch their eighth consecutive victory.
Glenn Bonello scored a hat-trick and Andrea Dan and Jovica Milijic hit two goals each. The other goals for Balzan came from Giancarlo Sammut, Zeljko Anicic and Rennie Tanti.
Pembroke climbed fourth in the table after seeing off Żurrieq 7-2 who beat Luqa 6-4 two days later for their third success of the season.
Ħamrun Spartans stunned Qormi 8-0. This was an impressive performance by the Spartans who joined Melita in sixth place.
Elamari proved to be Ħamrun’s hero on the day after scoring four of the goals for the winners.
Meanwhile, Żabbar sprang a surprise and ousted Hibernians from the FXDD KO after a 5-4 win.
It was an exceptional performance from the Żabbar team who played aggressively to stun their more quoted opponents.
Hibernians were trailing 4-2 at half-time but pulled one back after the restart to stay in contention. Żabbar were not overwhelmed though and soon regained their two-goal cushion.
The Paolites put everything on the offensive to save the match.
Their efforts, however, proved futile as Żabbar never relinquished their lead to book their place in the next round.