Pietà Hotspurs 0
St George’s 0

Pietà moved to the top of the standings yesterday but this result will do them little good as they were expected to beat troubled St George’s and relaunch their promotion hopes after a negative patch.

The Hotspurs are now one point ahead of Rabat and Melita but they have played two games more than the Magpies and one more than the Amatuers as fourth-placed Żejtun Corinthians, three points off the pace, also have a match in hand.

This was a hard-earned point for St George’s but the team remains in dire straits at the wrong end of the table and it’s now eight successive outings since they last won a championship match.

The Hotspurs were the better side in the first period even though they did not create too much in front of goal. In fact, they only had two good chances mid-way through the half, albeit from set pieces.

In both instances, it was Ezequiel Giaccaglia who abandoned his defensive position to force headers inside the Saints’ box. Keeper Ryan Marmara was alert to thwart danger.

Perhaps, the best goal-scoring opportunity came St George’s way on the half hour when Rocha dos Santos beat the offside trap and lobbed his effort over goalkeeper Miguel Montfort but the ball rolled wide.

On resumption, substitute Quelin Refalo saw Marmara saving his fierce drive as the Saints responded with a Redha Boutahir shot that went off range.

Refalo found Jurgen Pisani with a measured pass but his effort was blocked by defender Alan Abela and at the other end a De Azevedo shot from outside the box flew just wide.

Pietà had a Zach Muscat acrobatic kick superbly saved by Marmara and Refalo drove the ball just over the crossbar after profiting from some hesitant defending.

The Saints held tight in the dying minutes. A Pisani corner found Ismael Grech but his header lacked precision.

Pietà could have won it in stoppage time but Pisani, again, was denied by the Saints keeper and from the rebound Refalo hit badly in front of goal.

Pietà: M. Montfort, C. Spiteri, E.B. Giaccaglia, T. Agius, Z. Muscat, V. Pereira Dos Santos (K. Onosiughe), C. Cassar (L. Mallia), J. Zarate, J. Pisani, I. Grech, A. Farrugia (Q. Refalo).

St George’s: R. Marmara, D. Zahra, L. Rocha dos Santos (A. Bonello), E. Sevasta, A. Abela, G. Inguanez, R. Boutahir, D. Zarb, E. Amaira, W. De Azevedo (G. Dolmov), K. Grech (A. Mercieca).

Referee: Karl Frendo Cumbo.

Man of the match: Quelin Refalo (Pietà).

Birżebbuġa SP 0
Lija Athletic 1

Lija Athletic continued to ease their relegation worries after making it three wins in a row with a narrow win over Birżebbuġa, yesterday.

Inspired by Abdullahi Adeshina Ige, who scored the winning goal, Lija were always dangerous every time they moved forward while the seasiders, who sorely felt the absence of the suspended Frantijek Schneider, only managed two shots at their opponents’ goal.

Brian Spiteri’s Lija dominated play in the opening 45 minutes but a mixture of bad fortune and careless play failed to turn their superiority into goals.

Daniel Scerri headed against the Birżebbuġa crossbar inside the opening minute and Lija continued to run the show as an Evano Briffa shot from the distance finished just wide.

On 23 minutes, Ige shot just over from inside the box and two minutes later Scerri drove the ball wide after some good work by Ige who practically ran the show for his side with some fine dribbling and hard running.

A Keith Darmanin free-kick brought the best out of keeper Ivan Casha and although Lija slowed down their play in the second half, they still looked the more likely side to score first.

On 59 minutes, Erjon Beu’s header almost had the better of Casha and a minute later it was Beu, again, who dashed through from the left but fired over.

Lija finally took the lead on 71 minutes when Ige headed home from a Benjamin Camilleri cross.

Surprisingly the first shot at Lija’s goal came 11 minutes from time and it nearly produced an equaliser.

Ronnie Celeste left the Lija defence in his wake but was denied from goal by a fine reflex save from Lija goalkeeper Etim Akpan Ini.

Birżebbuġa carved out another chance to salvage the match deep into stoppage time but a calibrated Mead Mifsud free-kick was saved by Ini.

Birżebbuġa: I. Casha, K. Borg, M. Pullicino, M. Gabriel, D. Baldacchino, G. Tanti, P. Camilleri (K. Spiteri), M. Sciortino (A. Dalli), M. Mifsud, B. Marev (V. Rodrigos Leite), R. Celeste.

Lija: E. Aktpan Ini, C. Giordimaina, R. Conceicao, D. Scerri, E. Beu, E. Briffa (B. Camilleri), K. Darmanin, J.P. Scerri, A. Scicluna, T. Caruana (G. Camilleri), A. Ige.

Referee: Adrian Azzopardi.

Man of the match: Abdullahi Adeshina Ige (Lija Athletic).

Playing today
Tedesco Stadium, Hamrun
Rabat Ajax vs St Patrick - 18.00
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