St George’s 2
Pietà Hotspurs 2

St George’s went on top of the Division One standings despite losing their 100 per cent record as they were held by an enterprising Pietà Hotspurs side who had to play the last half an hour with ten men.

Despite going 2-0 down, the Hotspurs failed to throw in the towel and managed to hit back with two well-taken goals.

The dismissal of Sheldon Grech failed to force Pietà into a change in tactics, with attack being the best form of defence.

Early on, Pietà tested the St George’s rearguard twice in the space of two minutes, through Quilin Refalo and Cleaven Cassar, but on both occasions they failed to hit the target.

St George’s refused to sit back with the likes of Jonathan Ruiz and Glenn Bonello never giving an inch away and they forged ahead on 14 minutes. Brazilian Ruiz scored directly from a free-kick that gave goalkeeper Miguel Montfort no chance.

The game looked dead and buried when five minutes later St George’s made it 2-0.

Bonello turned past Bernard Sciberras and hit the roof of the net from an acute angle.

Pietà reacted on 23 minutes when Jurgen Pisani received a long ball and unleashed a powerful drive that was saved by Thomas Galea. Minutes later, a Dominic Mifsud drive graced the crossbar.

Late in the first half, Grech’s free-kick was saved by the Saints custodian and a Ryan Mifsud curler just missed the target.

In injury time, Pietà had another scoring opportunity when Galea made a good save following a Refalo grounder.

On resumption the Saints looked happy to administer their two-goal advantage.

On 55 minutes Zack Muscat was brought down by Galea, in what looked a dubious penalty. But Refalo didn’t mind to send the Saints keeper the wrong way.

Now it was all Pietà and four minutes later they equalised when following a melee Refalo again found the net with a backheel.

On the hour, Pietà suffered a setback when Grech was given a straight red card for dissent.

Despite this setback, the Hotspurs were still playing the better football even though the side from Cottonera had a good opportunity when Gary Inguanez fired high and wide from a good position.

St George’s: T. Galea, A. Bonello (R. Sell), D. Zahra, E. Sevasta, L. Stivala, G. Inguanez, E. Amaira, B. Fenech, D. Zarb, J.L. Ruiz, G. Bonello.

Pietà: M. Montfort, R. Mifsud, B. Sciberras, Q. Refalo, S. Grech, S. Lijeskic, Z. Muscat, C. Cassar (C. Grech), J. Pisani, D. Mifsud (R.L. Bandeira), C. Spiteri (D. Caruana).

Referee: Malcolm Spiteri.

Man of the match: Quilin Refalo (Pietà).