NAXXAR LIONS       3

Messias 7, 11

Micallef 33

SENGLEA ATHLETIC        0

Naxxar Lions were condemned to Division One football despite easing past Senglea 3-0 at the Centenary Stadium.

The Lions needed to beat Senglea and hope St Andrews overcome Tarxien. But the goalless stalemate between their two relegation rivals sealed their fate as they join Lija Athletic in Division One next season.

Naxxar were off to a impressive start as they surged into a two-goal lead inside the first 11 minutes.

After seven minutes, Daniel Bustos hit a cross-field pass that was well controlled by Yuri Messias. The Brazilian easily moved past Steve Bonnici but his shot was somehow kept out by Jurgen Borg. From the rebound, Messias showed great acrobatic skills to volley the ball past Borg.

Senglea were rattled and suffered more woes four minutes later.

Bustos was upended just outside the area and from the resultant free-kick Messias curled the ball past a stranded Borg.

Senglea should have pulled a goal back on 15 minutes when Gonzalo Virano’s shot was finished into the path of his team-mate Augusto Caceres but his effort was too central to trouble Christoph Nicht. 

Naxxar continued to boss the proceedings and they have all but wrapped up the points on 33 minutes.

From a corner action, Bustos’ delivery found Manolito Micallef who outjumped his marker and head into the net.

Four minutes from the break, Nicht came to his side’s rescue when he somehow kept out Caseres’s shot from close in.

Naxxar remained the better side in the second half and they had the ball into the Senglea net again on 55 minutes when Bustos stabbed in from close in. But the ‘goal’ was annulled for offside of the Argentine striker.

The match lost much of the intensity as Naxxar continued to control the proceedings in the hope for some good news from the Tarxien-Naxxar match.

But that failed to arrive and at the final whistle the Naxxar players were left distraught as they knew their fate was sealed.