Msida St Joseph 2
St Andrew’s 2

Msida St Joseph and St Andrew’s kicked off their first division campaign with an entertaining 2-2 draw.

St Andrew’s forged ahead through Brian Said midway into the first half but Msida reacted immediately. They equalised 10 minutes later when Dylan Attard beat Sam Bartolo from close range.

Just before half-time, the Saints made it 2-1 thanks to Emiliano Lattes’s drive but Msida came back to level matters 10 minutes into the second half.

Othniel Bouagba’s cross-shot went in after taking a slight deflection off Neil Chetcuti.

Msida: J. Agius, S. Vella, L. Cassar, M. Caruana, I. Schembri, D. Cachia, D. Attard (M. Borda), S. Magro, O. Bouagba, A. Del Genio (R. Xuereb), A. Laudisi.

St Andrew’s: S. Bartolo, N. Chetcuti, B. Said, D. Gera, D. Cucciardi (C. Cumbo), W. Camilleri, J. Farrugia, W. Barbosa, M. Grima (J. Falzon), T. Grozev, E. Lattes.

Referee: Stefan Pace

Man of the match: Emiliano Lattes (St Andrew’s).

Birżebbuġa 0
Lija Athletic 3

Lija Athletic cruised to a 3-0 win over Birżebbuġa in their Division One opener.

Kiril Aleksandrov put Lija ahead after two minutes and Abdullahi Ige doubled their lead 18 minutes later.

Lija remained on top after the change of ends. Eighteen minutes from time, Birżebbuġa goalkeeper Ivan Casha was sent off after fouling Aleksandrov in the box.

The Bulgarian striker converted the penalty.

Birżebbuġa: I. Casha, J. Briffa (R. Zammit), P. Grima, D. Baldacchino, M. Hrubsa, K. Borg, F. Peplow, G. Caruana (G. Goodlip), C. Calleja, M. Deanov (C. Cassar), J. Carlo Generoso da Silva.

Lija: K. Calleja, C. Giordemaina, T. Fleri Soler, D. Scerri, R. Sell, D. Vukovic, P. Babic (E. Borg), B. Antignolo (E. Briffa), K. Aleksandrov, A. Ige, J.P. Scerri (M. Fleri Soler).

Referee: Clayton Pisani.

Man of the match: Kiril Aleksandrov (Lija).