Ħamrun Spartans 2
Pereira 8; Obifuele 74 pen.
Dingli Swallows 1
Spiteri 35
Dingli only had themselves to blame as their brave battle against Ħamrun ended in the 74th minute when Roderick Briffa gave away a foul on Mark Anthony Bonnici in the area as the Spartans made them pay the penalty.
Till then, things had looked good for Dingli as their defence was relieved at the Spartans' profligacy.
Ħamrun coach Stephen D'Amato tested the depth of his squad by giving his supporting cast the chance to shine as he used this match to plunge some of his youngsters into action together with some senior players needing first-team football.
However the return of Rupert Mangion and the inclusion of Bonnici provided the Spartans with plenty of experience.
Dingli's approach to the game was hampered when Andrè Rocha da Silva picked up an injury after just five minutes and was replaced by Etienne Farrugia.
The Spartans' fluidity and slick passing is a feature of their game no matter who is in their line-up and after eight minutes, Mangion's pass found Obinna Obifuele scuttling into the inside-right channel and he placed the ball across goal to provide Marcelo Pereira with the simplest of tap-ins.
Ħamrun's failure to build on that breakthrough was partly due to their failure to build on to some promising build-up play and partly to some gritty Dingli defending.
On 19 minutes, Andrea Cassar tipped over Dylan Zarb's powerful header after a Kevin Borg's free-kick.
After 35 minutes, from an Etienne Farrugia's free-kick, Zarb thundered a powerful shot straight at the wall but the ball fell invitingly to Roderick Spiteri who sent a rasping shot into the back of the net.
Had Obifuele not spurned a priceless opportunity shortly before half-time, Ħamrun might have gone in at the break with the advantage. But the Nigerian striker had time to charge at goal, but opted for a first-time effort which went hopelessly off the target.
A double chance for Obifuele at the start of the second half suggested the second period would again by dominated by the Spartans. A well-worked three-man move - Mead Mifsud picked up the ball from Bonnici and fed the overlapping Pereira - set- up a chance for the Nigerian striker, who racing in at full pace, shot straight at Cassar.
Dingli continued to defend deep and inevitably Ħamrun continued to charge forward and three times the Spartans broke through the fragile Swallows rearguard. Pereira and Mark Barbara both had their shot saved by Ivan Cassar, but only a poor final ball from the Brazilian, who failed to pick out the unmarked Obifuele, saved Jesmond Zammit's on the third occasion.
It began to feel like it would not be Ħamrun's day when Lee James Agius hit the post with a powerful long distance shot after 55 minutes.
Ten minutes later, substitute Mauro Busuttil shot over the bar when he really should have done better from few metres out after being set up by Barbara.
The Swallows kept defending boldly and were helped by Ivan Cassar, who performed sterling service in goal. On 68 minutes, the lively Zarb managed to steer in an acrobatic overhead kick but he was denied by Cassar.
Dingli were made to pay a heavy price for that miss six minutes later.
Dingli lost all of sense of discipline when Roderick Briffa needlessly gave away a foul in the box when he hauled to the ground Bonnici. Referee Glenn Tonna pointed to the spot and Obifuele showed no nerves as he converted the penalty with aplomb to hand Ħamrun victory.