Matchday Eight from the GFA Division One championship saw Nadur Youngsters retain top spot after seeing off a determined Victoria Hotspurs in a 4-3 win.
Nadur appeared to be heading to a comfortable win as they opened a 3-0 lead inside the opening half-hour thanks to goals from Claudio Antunes, Anthony Portelli and Milos Stojanovic.
However, the Hotspurs hit back admirably to narrow the deficit to 3-2 before half-time through Saturday Nanapere and Joseph Refalo.
Antunes was on target soon after the restart to put Nadur 4-2 up but the Hotspurs were not demoralised and Nanapere pulled his team back into contention on 50 minutes.
It was end-to-end stuff for much of the second half as the result remained uncertain but in the end, Nadur controlled their opponents’ attacks.
The closest the Hotspurs went to an equaliser was five minutes from time but Nanapere’s header flew wide.
Kerċem Ajax recovered from their upset to Nadur in their previous match with an impressive 4-0 win over Xagħra United.
Kerċem leapfrogged Xewkija into second place as Xagħra conceded their third consecutive defeat to slip down the standings.
Sabri Rais and Stoyko Sakaliev returned from suspension for Kerċem and their presence made all the difference.
The Ajax were on top throughout and goals from Malcolm Vella, Sakaliev (2) and substitute Andrew Mizzi gave them a comfortable win.
The other Division One match last weekend was a direct clash between the two sides in the bottom end of the standings, SK Victoria and Sannat Lions.
The Wanderers were the more cohesive team, emulating their 3-0 win in the first round to make it a double over the Lions.
The Wanderers seized territorial supremacy early on and opened the scoring on 21 minutes thanks to Eric Nwankwo’s header.
Six minutes later, Kenneth Mercieca made it 2-0. He had another attempt at goal cleared off the line by Peter Buttigieg but just before half-time, Mercieca put SK Victoria 3-0 up with a header from a corner.
The Wanderers had new goalkeeper Giaco Ratto in fine form as he prevented Ernest Qordja and Josiah Buttigieg from reducing the deficit for Sannat whose hopes were dashed when Bledar Vata was sent off for a foul midway through the second half.
Division Two
Oratory Youths continued to dominate the championship. Last weekend, they trounced St Lawrence Spurs 4-1 to maintain their grip on top spot.
Shaun Attard notched a brace with Daniel Bartolo and Andrea Debrincat scoring the other two goals as the Spurs’ consolation goal came on 87 minutes through Josef Debrincat.
Second-placed Munxar Falcons maintained the pace with a 2-0 win over Għarb Rangers, the goals for the winners coming from a Daniel Pace brace after Mario Azzopardi had his first-half penalty stopped by keeper Clayton Rapa.
Għajnsielem suffered a setback to their promotion ambitions as they went down to Qala Saints with the only goal of the match coming through Mario Mifsud on 56 minutes.