SENGLEA ATHLETIC 2
Sammut 11, Palmieri 30
NAXXAR LIONS 1
Messias 64
First half goals from Paul Sammut and Nicola Palmieri were enough for Senglea Athletic to beat Naxxar Lions.
Naxxar started strongly and Yuri Messias carved out an opening in the Lions defence with a thrilling run but the Brazilian striker was stopped when he was about to pull the trigger.
But the Athletic came back well and took the lead on 11 minutes. Picking up Palmieri’s pass, Sammut beat his man before thumping a right-foot shot low into the net with the Lions keeper Omar Borg powerless to stop him.
Any hopes Naxxar harboured of a quick riposte were dented on the half hour mark as Palmieri turned scorer, when he raced onto Gonzalo Virano’s chipped free-kick from the right and headed home.
Messias spurned a glorious chance three minutes after the break, firing wide when poised to finish a superb Naxxar move initiated by Duane Bonnici.
Naxxar laid a siege to Senglea’s goal. RandalL Vella allowed Messias to beat him to a ball on the by-line but the nippy striker found Farrugia who blocked him in two attempts.
The Lions got the goal they needed to spark a comeback past the hour mark when the Brazilian’s well-hit strike from free-kick flew through a sea of players and finished behind Farrugia.
Naxxar gained final proof their luck was out when Messias blazed over the bar from free-kick.