League leaders easily dispose of nine-man Pieta
Naxxar are again sole leaders as they easily beat Pieta Hotspur who finished the game with nine men.
The game was very balanced in the first 25 minutes, but Naxxar never looked back after taking a half hour lead. On the resumption Pieta had some good chances to get back in the game but the dismissals of Grech and Mifsud made their recovery a mission impossible indeed.
The match had a rather tame start with Montfort saving an Andriuoli freekick. On 25 minutes Pieta had to substitute central defender Ruiz Perez and Naxxar almost forged ahead two minutes later when a Bonnici deflected shot finished against the base of the upright.
On 29 minutes Naxxar did go in front when Angus Buhagiar headed home a Jurgen Debono corner. Naxxar were now in the driving seat with Pieta unable to come to grips with their opponents. Naxxar almost doubled the score on 36 minutes but Montfort blocked Andriuoli’s close range effort.
Two minutes later Naxxar were unlucky when Lubos’ shot beat Montfort but Christian Grech cleared off the goal line.
Just before the break Naxxar doubled the score when Jurgen Debono scored a beauty from over 25 meters.
Ten minutes into the second half Mensah shot slightly wide and on the other end Bonnici was floored by Christian Grech, with the referee awarding the penalty and booked Grech.
But from the penalty spot Messias blasted over the bar, and Pieta defender Grech received a second booking for dissent and Pieta were reduced to ten players.
With a man less Pieta went twice close to reducing the gap, but Omar Borg was in splendid form to save shots from James Scicluna and Mensah.
On 72 minutes Pieta were even reduced to nine men when Mead Mifsud received a second booking and Naxxar put the issue beyond doubt two minutes later when Duane Bonnici fired in the top corner of the net from an acute angle.
Deep in stoppage time Duane Bonnici scored the fourth and final goal after receiving from Guevara Munoz.
Naxxar L: O. Borg, A. Buhagiar (J. Ellul), N. Spiteri, D. Bonnici, R. Cassar, J. Debono, M. Fenech, L. Andriuoli (S. Guevara Munoz), J. Debono, A. Lubos, Y. Messias (D. Nocera Garcia)
Pieta H: M. Montfort, T. Bartolo (Y. Dimitrov), C. Degabriele, N. Pace Cocks, M. Mifsud, G. Mensah, J.M. Ruiz Perez (A. Mizzi), C. Grech, I. Jalo, J. Scicluna, J. Suda (S. Stewart) Referee: Malcolm Spiteri