Mqabba 2 Ħamrun Spartans 3

Hamrun endured nerve-wrecking finals minutes to beat Mqabba 3-2 this evening.

Hamrun started promisingly with Dene Shields put Anderson Ribeiro clean through and he beat Kris Calleja with header, only to have Mauro Bonnici miraculously scissor kick the ball off the line as the template for the match was set; the Brazilian had another shot blocked by Timotic six minutes later as the 'home team' always appeared to be one step ahead.

But the pressure finally told as Ribeiro reacted quickest to muscle his way ahead of Timotic and power home Massimo Grima's inviting free-kick in the 36th minute.

Hamrun now had the wind in their sails and Shields came close to double the lead. Just before half-time, Spiteri launched a lightning-quick counter-attack with the Scotsman collecting a loose ball on the right-hand side of the box, but he wastefully lashed his shot wide of the far post.

And any hopes of a second-half revival by Mqabba were quickly stamped out when some lethargic defence allowed Hamrun to double their lead six minutes after the break. Dene Shields reacted more quickly than Bonnici and the defender hauled down the striker to concede a penalty. The striker picked himself up to drive the spot-kick past Calleja.

In the 71st minute, substitute Lee James Agius who scored with virtually his first touch – just 60 seconds after coming on- coolly finishing at the second attempt from Shields's excellent cross.

It was noticeable that Hamrun moved down a couple of gears in the final quarter of an hour, and incredibly, that was almost to cost them victory.

Prior to Mazzitelli's opener, Claudio Calleja wasted another chance when he shot straight into Andrea Cassar's hands with the score 3-0.

Then the Brazilian showed him the way when he scored with a rising shot that flew behind Cassar after 79 minutes.

It remained 3-1 until the final minutes of the added time when Mqabba received a boost in the shape of a penalty after Massimo Grima was adjudged to have stuck out an arm to block Claudio Calleja's shot inside the box. The onerous task of beating Cassar fell to Mamic and the forward had the better of the Spartans's goalkeeper with an angled drive.