Nadur Youngsters suffered their first defeat after 25 matches in the GFA Division One league after going down 3-1 to SK Victoria Wanderers.
The match, played in front of a sizeable crowd, lived up to its billing as the two sides confirmed their title credentials.
The Wanderers have narrowed the gap on leaders Nadur to just one point with Xewkija Tigers joint-second on 21 points.
Nadur were unable to impose themselves on the game as the Wanderers were well-deployed in defence and often threatened with swift breaks from Ejofor Nkwocha and Joseph Vella.
The Wanderers opened the scoring very early in the match when Vella released Nkwocha who punished the out-of-positioned Mark Grima, the Nadur goalkeeper.
Nadur recovered poise to level matters on the half-hour mark.
Alex Simoncic’s cross reached the unmarked Aliou Traore who hit home from close distance.
Joseph Portelli almost put the Youngsters ahead soon after but his lob ended wide.
The Wanderers were not going to lie down, though, and Fernando Giarrizzo’s attempt ended high soon after the restart.
The course of the game changed when Nadur striker Traore was sent off after earning a second booking for a simulation in the Wanderers’ box.
Despite this setback, Nadur could have taken the lead but Milos Stojanovic lifted his shot over the bar.
The Wanderers began to take advantage of their extra man on the field and 11 minutes from time, Nkwocha was again on the right spot to receive a pass from Vella before stabbing the ball home.
Nadur pushed more men forward in an attempt to save the match but the Wanderers sealed victory with a third goal in stoppage time after a fine move by Vella.
Xewkija rarely broke a sweat as they coasted to a 5-0 win over Munxar Falcons.
Former Malta captain Gilbert Agius scored the opener and provided assists for Xewkija’s other four goals.
The Tigers laid siege on the Munxar goal but had to wait until the 45th minute to break the deadlock when Agius fired in from close distance.
Agius continued to distinguish himself after the break.
On 48 minutes he released Christian Bugeja whose grounder surprised substitute goalkeeper Joseph Borg.
Agius whipped in two similar crosses that were finished off by Mark Camilleri in quick suc-cession. On 68 minutes, the former Valletta captain’s long pass put Gennaro Hili through and the young Xewkija striker made it 5-0 with a good shot from an angled position.
In another match from the top flight, Kerċem Ajax registered a 3-1 win over Victoria Hotspurs to make up for their upset to the same opponents in the first round.
Saturday Nanapere’s goal for the Hotspurs was sandwiched between John Camilleri’s double for Kerċem who went in for the interval 3-1 ahead following Malcolm Vella’s goal midway through the half.
Kerċem did well to control play during the second period with the Citizens’ efforts failing to produce the desired dividends.
In a basement clash, Oratory Youths beat Xagħra United 3-0.
Antoine Camilleri opened the scoring on nine minutes but the Youths almost marred their good performance before half-time when Johann Attard was sent off for retaliation. With a player less, Oratory were still good enough to make victory more pronounced with two Shaun Attard goals, one from a penalty.