Mtarfa FC retained the Roger Strickland Cup for a second successive year after they beat Marsascala in a penalty shoot-out. The final, played at the Tedesco Stadium, Ħamrun, had ended in a 1-1 draw.

The first half turned out to be a balanced affair with both teams creating a number of scoring chances but at the interval the score remained locked at 0-0.

Mtarfa suffered a setback ten minutes into the second half when skipper Roderick Sammut was shown a red card.

Despite being a man down Mtarfa still shared the exchanges with their opponents and on 86 minutes they took the lead.

Francesco Azzopardi was fouled in the Marsascala box and a penalty was given. Omar Smeir converted from the spot to put his team ahead.

But Marsascala refused to throw in the towel and grabbed a dramatic equaliser two minutes into stoppage time when Eboa Ahmadow headed the ball into the net to send the match to a penalty shoot-out. Mtarfa prevailed as they netted six penalties against Marsascala’s five.

In the play-off for third place, Swieqi United beat Qrendi 3-1.

Ivan Scicluna grabbed a brace for the winners with the other Swieqi goal coming through Timothy Hampton.

Julian Camilleri scored a consolation goal for Qrendi.