White Hart win bottom of the table clash

Rabat Depiro 0 Laferla White Hart 2 Scorers: Alvaro Garcia and Glen Bonello Umpires: James Mizzi and Edward Hughes

The bottom two teams of the league paired up to try and get some more points on the table. Rabat had unfortunately a rather depleted side and were on the ropes from the start. They were the first team to get a penalty corner however but White Hart were up to the challenge and thwarted Rabat’s effort. Laferla WH pressed on and got their reward on the 5th minute when from a penalty corner Alvaro Garcia tapped in from 3 metres after Kenneth Debatista failed to clear Sammut’s effort. The game ebbed and flowed with White Hart keeping their terrotorial advantage without really troubling the Rabat defence but Rabat did not create any problems for Laferla White Hart.

The 2nd half had much of the same. Laferla were rather wasteful in midfield, giving the ball away too easily and gave Rabat an opportunity form their counterattacks. However, Vassallo Agius in goal was up to it and saved a couple of times from Kevin Micallef and Charlot Antonelli. For the first time this season, White Hart managed to keep a clean sheet and got the win they needed, when Glen Bonello finished off a slick move on the left with two minutes to go to finish 2-0 up.

The Lightshop Hotsticks 2 Floriana Young Stars 1 Scorers: Jonathan Borg, Steve Portelli, Nathan Galea

Going into this match, The Lightshop Hotsticks knew that a win would put them within easy reach of the first title for many years having built up a lead over their rivals through their consistency and superiority in midfield. In fact, after the initial scurry, they control of the centre of the park creating continuous waves of attack. In spite of this, they did not finish strongly and started to make mistakes in the opponents’ D. It was however inevitable that their pressure re would pay off and from a short corner, Jonathan Borg deflected a clever move to take the lead. Young Stars could not muster a reaction and with Silas Plaehn in fine form, Hotsticks continued to create various opportunities. in one of these, Plaehn put Dalli through who hit a beautiful shot from a tight angle on the cross bar.

With the Young Stars defence at sixes and sevens, they could not clear the ball with the result that they gave away a penalty corner. Up came Steve Portelli and as has been customary lately, he slotted him his effort from the top of the circle.

Young Stars plight took a turn for the worse as stalwarts Edward Hughes and Andrew Camilleri pulled muscles and had to stop their work for the day at half time. With Hotsticks in their current form, the youngsters of Young Stars found the going tough and could not really create much. Hotsticks on the other hand were not really dangerous as they took the foot off the pedal which was a dangerous tactic. Floriana Young Stars did in fact get back in the game when Ryan George save the ball off the line illegally and Nathan Galea put away the resultant penalty. But it was a little too late as The Lightshop Hotsticks kept their lead and inched closer to the title.