Hamrun Spartans and Balzan took a point each as they fought out a 2-2 draw at the National Stadium yesterday.

It was a fair result to a match which saw both teams producing some excellent attacking play with both goalkeepers, Andrea Cassar, of Hamrun, and Balzan's Matthew Camilleri producing some excellent saves.

Hamrun drew first blood on 15 minutes when they were awarded a central free-kick from which Massimo Grima curled the ball past Camilleri.

Balzan came back strongly and took just four minutes to draw level. The goal came from another set-piece situation as Pedrinho's cross found Mendy who sent a glancing header past Cassar.

Balzan could have gone in front two minutes from the break when striker Elton was upended in the area by Angel Yoshev but from the resultant penalty Pedrinho saw his shot blocked by Cassar.

Hamrun regained their lead on 50 minutes when Yoshev burst into the area before sending a low cross into the path of Terrence Scerri who stabbed the ball into an empty net.

Parity was restored on 67 minutes when Pedrinho showed great skill to beat Cassar with a long range drive that flew into the bottom corner of the net.

Balzan finished the match with ten men when Renato Conceicoa was shown a straight red card for an elbow infringement on Roderick Fenech.

Hamrun goalkeeper Andrea Cassar was voted as the BOV Player of the match.

At the beginning of the game, Hamrun paid tribute to Brenton Mifsud, a youth nursery player who passed away suddenly a few days ago.