Żejtun Corinthians 0
Pietà Hotspurs 0

Pietà and Żejtun shared the spoils in a balanced match that brought to an end the first round of the championship.

Pietà, the sole leaders, deployed defender Zach Muscat in attack as Quilin Refalo, Larrson Mallia and Dominic Mifsud were absent.

Vinicius Pereira dos Santos was free in the Corinthians box early on but his drive was kept out by goalkeeper Ranier Farrugia. Ezequiel Giaccaglia headed just over following a Christian Grech free-kick.

On 17 minutes, veteran Kenneth Abela headed just wide from an Edward Azzopardi free-kick as Żejtun started moving forward.

But it was Pietà who were doing all the running and an Adrian Farrugia free-kick caused panic inside the area but Wisam Elzaredi cleared before Muscat could connect.

Edmond Lufi’s Hotspurs produced the best move of the first half on 30 minutes when Terrance Agius hit a missile but the shot flew off target.

Żejtun came out of their shell in the second half and on 55 minutes Abela missed by a whisker from an Andre Farrugia free-kick. The same fate awaited team-mate Nikolay Filipov when he failed to connect in front of Miguel Montfort from another Żejtun free-kick.

Pietà hit back with a Pereira dos Santos piledriver that ended just wide and at the other end, Abela was almost on the mark with a fine shot on the turn following an inviting Elzaredi ball.

Both teams looked willing to go forward but no goals were scored and the closest man to break the deadlock in the late stages was Abela but his speculative shot was kept out by Cleavon Cassar.

Żejtun: R. Farrugia, A. Farrugia, C. Magro, M. Borg, E. Azzopardi, S. Sciberras, N. Filipov, S. Magro, W. Elzaredi, K. Abela, K. Ganchev.

Pietà: M. Montfort, C. Spiteri, E. Giaccaglia, T. Agius, Z. Muscat, V. Pereira dos Santos, C. Cassar, J. Bilbao Zarate, J. Pisani (K. Cutajar), C. Grech, A. Farrugia (C. Attard).

Referee: Fyodor Zammit.

Man of the match: Zach Muscat (Pietà Hotspurs).

Naxxar Lions 5
St George’s 0

Darren Falzon scored a hat-trick as Naxxar Lions heaped more misery on relegation strugglers St George’s.

Naxxar opened the scoring early on when Mattia Del Negro hit a rasping drive into the top corner of the net from outside the area.

The Lions pinned the Saints in their own half. A second goal was in the air but Andre Da Silva drove wide with only the goalkeeper to beat and then Thomas Galea was alert to parry Falzon’s shot.

St George’s had a Gary Inguanez effort stopped by Julian Azzopardi.

Falzon hit badly from just inside the Saints box but on 39 minutes the Lions doubled their lead when Da Silva released Falzon who struck from routine distance.

The Saints failed to hit back after the change of ends and the score soon became 3-0 thanks to Falzon who slotted home after an inviting Hallison De Lima Siqueira pass.

On 61 minutes, with the Saints defence at sixes and sevens, De Lima Siqueira rounded Galea before hitting home to make it 4-0.

The Saints were down and out and Del Negro rattled Galea’s upright with a fierce shot. Falzon notched his hat-trick five minutes from time when he was put through by De Lima Siqueira.

In stoppage time the Saints had Alan Abela dismissed for dangerous play.

Naxxar: J. Azzopardi, A. Farrugia, L. Micallef, A. Attard, R. Schembri, H. De Lima Siqueira, M. Del Negro, V. Bellia, M. Maccari (A. Del Negro), D. Falzon (K. Farrugia), A. Da Silva (J. Debono).

St George’s: T. Galea, C. Grech (G. Bonello), E. Sevasta, A. Abela, N. Curmi, L. Rocha Dos Santos, E. Amaira, D. Zarb, H. Schembri, G. Inguanez (R. Boutahir), W. De Azevedo (A. Bonello).

Referee: Andre Arciola.

Man of the match: Darren Falzon (Naxxar Lions).