Hamrun Spartans boosted their aspirations for a top-six berth after seeing off ten-man Qormi 2-1 at the National Stadium on Sunday.

The Spartans looked set for a comfortable afternoon when they surged into a two-goal lead after the opening 32 minutes.

Gaetan Spiteri put the Spartans ahead on 29 minutes when the nippy forward was put through by Marcelo Pereira and unleashed a low drive that rolled past Qormi goalkeeper Matthew Farrugia.

Stung by this goal, Qormi conceded again on 32 minutes when Spiteri was floored in the area by Qormi defender Jonathan Bondin and referee Andre Arciola immediately pointed to the spot. Bondin was shown the red card for impeding a clear scoring opportunity and Ryan Fenech made no mistake from the penalty.

Qormi kept battling and on the stroke of half-time they managed to pull back when Joseph Chetcuti profited from a defensive blunder from Jovan Vukanic to fire the ball past Omar Borg.

After the interval, Qormi increased their efforts to at least salvage a point by they rarely threatened with their best chance coming on 52 minutes when George Mallia’s close range shot was blocked by Borg.

Omar Borg was voted as the BOV Player of the Match.