Lija Athletic 1 (4) St George's 1 (5)

St George's progressed to the last eight of the U*BET FA Trophy after battling past 10-men Lija Athletic in the only all-division one clash of the fourth round.

Lija defender Andre' Scicluna experienced the agony of seeing his penalty rattling the crossbar after a sequence of six penalties each.

After a quiet opening quarter of an hour, St George's striker Jonathan Ruiz opened the score with an astonishing goal when in the 20th minute, he caught stunned Etim Akpan Ini off his line with a looping shot from more than 25 metres.

From the possibility of going two down, Lija almost drew level just before half-time but the woodwork denied them the equaliser. Renato Conceicao's thunderbolt from a free-kick outside the box swerved beyond Ryan Marmara but crashed against the post.

The second half never really got going. The Saints, in particular, failed to create any decent attempts at goal.

Lija were handed a life-line five minutes from time when St George's goalkeeper Marmara was adjudged to have floored Darmanin inside the box. The former Floriana striker picked himself up to send the keeper the wrong way to level matters.

Deep into stoppage time, Lija were reduced to ten men when Camilleri was sent off for a second bookable offence. The match dragged into extra time but St George's barely had a touch of the ball and their hopes of making their numerical supremacy failed to materalise.

With the penalties looming, Conceicao hit the post with a long-range shot as the rebound sailed into Marmara's hands. Both teams failed to score until the final whistle so penalties had to decide the winner.