Nadur Youngsters took sole leadership in the GFA Division One standings after taking four points from their last two games, played in the space of five days.
Last week, Nadur were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by Sannat Lions who extended their positive run to four matches in the championship.
Nadur took an early lead through Claudio Antunes but Sannat salvaged a point thanks to a goal from Manwel Cordina early in the second half.
The Youngsters made up for that partial upset by overcoming the erstwhile unbeaten Kerċem Ajax in their next match.
Kerċem took to the field without influential midfielder Sabri Rais and striker Stoyko Sakaliev, both suspended, and in the end they went down to a 3-0 defeat.
Nadur had early attempts by Milos Stojanovic and Anthony Portelli coming off the woodwork but both players were on the mark midway through the half as the Youngsters opened a 2-0 lead.
Kerċem produced a determined reaction in the second period but were unlucky when efforts by Jean Paul Mizzi and debutant Boris Ottro hit the bar while an attempt by Ian Xuereb was cleared off the line.
Nadur regained their composure and sealed victory with a third goal on 74 minutes through Joseph Portelli, from a corner action.
With this win, Nadur have opened a two-point gap on Kerċem Ajax at the top of the standings.
In the meantime, the last match of the first round saw Victoria Hotspurs register their first win when they recovered from a two-goal deficit to beat derby rivals SK Victoria Wanderers 3-2.
This was the third time this season the Wanderers have lost a league match after taking a two-goal lead as the relegation struggle became even more complex with the bottom three teams within one point of each other in the drop zone.
The Wanderers seemed heading towards a comfortable win as they hit twice through Oliver Farrugia (19) and Ajibade Adesina (22).
However, the Hotspurs pulled one back through Saturday Nanapere and continued to dominate after the break.
Nanapere was the protagonist in his team’s win after scoring twice late in the match to turn the result in the Hotspurs’ favour.
Xewkija hit six
In another match from the first day of the second round, Xewkija Tigers stayed in contention for the title with a resounding 6-3 win over Xagħra United.
Xewkija scored two goals in the opening stages, through Scottish forward Dene Shields (7) and Christian Bugeja (12).
Xagħra didn’t give up and they hit back to level the score before half-time with goals from John Camilleri (17) and Chris Camilleri (45).
However, Xewkija Tigers scored three goals without reply after the break thanks to a Shields double (46, 54) and a goal in between by debutant Thiago Dos Santos (50).
Josef Galea made it 5-3 on 72 minutes but Xewkija got their sixth goal through William Cassar five minutes from time.