Pietà Hotspurs 1
Balzan Youths 2
Balzan celebrated their title and promotion in style when in front of a sizeable crowd at the Tedesco Stadium, they were handed the BOV First Division trophy by MFA president Norman Darmanin Demajo.
Without setting any houses on fire, Balzan beat a Pietà side who tried hard to ruin Balzan’s party but with Brazilian pair Conceicao and Calcado in fine form the Youths finished the season on a high.
The day also marked the official retirement from the game of former Malta midfielder Ivan Zammit. At the age of 39 years, the former Valletta and Birkirkara maestro made his last showing in a Balzan shirt after coming on as a substitute.
After only a minute’s play a Pedro Calcado free-kick for Balzan finished over the crossbar but Pietà should have gone in front soon after when Quilin Refalo was fouled by David Agius in the box and a penalty was given. However, Refalo, who picked himself to take the spot-kick, shot poorly into the hands of Frederick Tabone.
Pietà then had a Sheldon Grech free-kick that finished just over but Balzan managed to take the lead on 35 minutes when the Hotspurs failed to clear a Lydon Micallef cross for Calcado to hammer home from close range.
Three minutes from the break Calcado dribbled past two defenders with his shot being partially saved by the Pietà keeper who did well to keep out Conceicao’s shot from the rebound.
Pietà played the better football after the break and on the hour Ismael Grech hit a scorcher from the edge of the area to beat Tabone and level the scores.
Balzan reacted immediately. Vella was on the right spot to keep out a Dylan Grima shot and on 78 minutes Calcado, fed by Conceicao, sprinted into the Pietà box before hitting home the winner.
Pietà almost drew level late on when Larson Mallia hit a volley following some good work by Sheldon Grech, the ball finishing inches wide of Tabone’s goal.
Pietà: K. Vella, C. Grech, Q. Refalo (S. Micallef), T. Agius, R.L. Bandeira (C. Cutajar), S. Grech, C. Cassar, I. Grech, J. Azzopardi (L. Mallia), D. Camilleri, D. Owuo.
Balzan: F. Tabone, C. Ciantar, C. Micallef, J. Francica, D. Agius (L. Micallef), D. Grima, R. Conceicao, A. Agius (S. Ciscaldi), R. Forace, S. Meilak (I. Zammit), P. Calcado.
Referee: Andre Arciola.
Man of the match: Pedro Calcado (Balzan Youths).
St George’s 0
Msida St Joseph 0
Msida chalked up their second draw in the league to finish the season on a good note following a sad season which saw them lose 16 games.
Msida had Karl Saliba in fine form and looks to have a bright career ahead of him while goalkeeper Daniel Borda and Ryan Xuereb also look a good bet for the future.
St George’s failed to live up to expectations and after a good start to the season succumbed late on.
After 10 minutes Jonathan Ruiz drove the ball wide with only Borda to beat. The Brazilian missed another sitter when he hit badly following a good cross by Emerson Amaira.
On 22 minutes a Gary Inguanez free-kick just missed the target and Mark Barbara shot straight at Borda from a good position.
Msida looked better in the second half and on 57 minutes Miguel Grech missed a sitter following an inviting ball from Ryan Xuereb.
On 68 minutes, a Dylan Zarb effort was destined to hit the back of the Msida net but was deflected to a corner in the last minute.
With 10 minutes to go, substitute Ryan Sell was unlucky when he hit the Msida upright as the Saints held on to preserve a clean sheet.
St George’s: T. Galea, E. Sevasta, L. Stivala (R. Sell), N. Caruana, D. Zarb (R. Previ), G. Inguanez, M. Barbara (T. Farrugia), E. Amaira, D. Zahra, J. Ruiz, M. Milutinovic.
Msida: D. Borda, R. Xuereb, L. Micallef, M. Grech (R. Galea), M. Borda, P. Sakchai, L. Cassar, C. Zammit, K. Saliba, G. Refalo, C. Cioffi (D. Hili).
Referee: Esther Azzopardi.
Man of the match: Karl Saliba (Msida St Joseph).