St Andrew’s made all the early running and they broke the stalemate with their first series raid on the Swieqi goal on 15 minutes.

Joseph Farrugia initiated the move with a surging run before releasing Jacob Walker on the right. The Saints winger sent an inswinging cross towards Kyrian Nwoko who headed past Swieqi goalkeeper Luke Pace.

More woes followed for Swieqi as two minutes later Pace fumbled his attempt to palm away Farrugia’s cross from a corner kick and Eloy Nkene was on hand to blast home.

But the Saints’ defensive frailties came back to haunt them on 23 minutes when from a corner-kick action Daniel Mifsud was left unmarked but his header was somehow kept out by Bugeja but from the rebound Bruno Menezes hit into an empty net.

Chances continued to flow and on 25 minutes Michael Grima hit a rasping volley that completely caught Pace by surprise with the ball coming off the bar.

Nine minutes from the break, Wade Moodley replaced Nick Ghio and the Saints substitute quickly left his mark.

A minute from the break, Moodley hit a firm drive that was not withheld by Pace and in came Nwoko who chipped the ball towards Matthew Guillaumier who headed into the net.

The Saints added a fourth goal on 58 minutes later when Guillaumier’s shot from the edge of the area had the better of Pace.

Swieqi grabbed a second goal four minutes from time when Kristian Sultana met Jean Azzopardi’s cross with the ball coming off the bar and hit the Swieqi defender before finishing into the net.