Mosta 1

Mqabba 1

Mqabba and Mosta, two of the three newly-promoted sides shared the spoils in an encounter which showed of plenty of endeavour but little quality this evening.

Seven defeats from nine matches had left them rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table, but clearly under instructions to attack from the outset, Mosta started far the brighter.

And the early promise was rewarded when Gilbert Martin gave the Blues the lead after 21 minutes.

Darting to the near post ahead of Pierre Grima and Potezica, Martin threw himself at a long ball from the half-way line, before beating Kris Calleja with aplomb as the ball zipped into the net, via the post.

The goal triggered a period of sustained Mqabba pressure and Thiago dos Santos Mazitelli curled a 20-metre free-kick just wide.

In the 34th minute, Jonathan Debono produced a magnificent save as he dived full length to his left to keep out another free-kick by the Brazilian. Few moments later, Mosta found themselves on the back foot again, when Brian Agius failed to clear the Mosta area which allowed David Azzopardi to fire in a low shot that was saved by the feet of the goalkeeper.

Mqabba eventually made the breakthrough courtesy of a beautiful effort from Potezica. After a patient build-up, the Serbian midfielder atoned for his error, collected the ball from the half-way line, advanced and struck a brilliant curling effort beyond Debono.

There did not appear to be too much threat after 77 minutes as Azzopardi collected the ball wide left but the Mosta rearguard made a mess of trying to clear their area which allowed Timotic to fire in a shot that was saved by Debono.

Arilson went close late on after a rare counter attack as Mosta applied some late pressure but Mqabba were up to the task. Mazitelli nearly earned Mqabba in injury time when despite being unmarked in the box, somehow headed Claudio Calleja's free-kick wide but in the end both sides seemed content with a point.