Saints stun Citizens in MAFA KO

Two late goals ensured a dramatic qualification for MAFA Second Division leaders San Ġiljan who ousted Valletta St Pauls from the MAFA Knock-Out competition.

This was considered as one of the surprises of this weekend’s matches played both at the Santa Lucia Ground and Charles Abela Stadium.

The Saints joined Versity AFC, Balluta Barracudas, Balzan Youths AFC, Tarxien AFC, Senglea Gunners, Żurrieq Sunrise and Marsa St Michael who also made to the last eight of the competition.

The match between San Ġiljan Saints and Valletta St Paul disappointed the expectations as the spectators at the Santa Lucia Ground witnessed a drab encounter with both defensive departments as the main protagonists.

In the second half, Valletta St Pauls created some occasions but found the Saints’ keeper Ryan Kerr in fine form as he denied his opponents on a couple of occasions. On the other hand, San Ġiljan Saints were good on the counter as striker Mamadou Jawo tried to instill some sort of pressure upfront.

San Ġiljan Saints forged ahead on 65 minutes through Lewis Constable who slotted home from close range to beat keeper Jianiro Camilleri. The latter couldn’t avoid the second goal as Philip Taylor scored a gem of a goal directly from a freekick to rubberstamp his team’s qualification for the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Balluta Barracudas had to go to the penalty shoot-out to eliminate a mighty Mosta Vikings side.

As the 70 minutes of the game finished 1-1, on penalties Balluta won 4-3.

Angelo Migliore put Balluta ahead on 18 minutes until the

Vikings grabbed the equalizer through Connor Azzopardi.

Senglea Gunners didn’t sweat so much as they saw off Qormi Hotspurs 3-0. The latter disappointed all expectations because they were no match to Senglea who had the clearer ideas during the entire match.

Simphiwe Nomfulana, Kalil da Rosa and James Borg were on target for the Cottonera side.

The same result was produced in the match between Tarxien AFC and Naxxar Victorians with the former gaining the most awaited qualification.

Tarxien had striker Miguel Grima in fine form as he netted a brace. Jason Woodhead completed the score for the Southerners.

Another exciting encounter was seen between Valletta Stars and Balzan Youths AFC. The 3-3 scoreline showed that this was an entertaining affair, with Valletta Stars losing a two-goal advantage to a determined Balzan side who adopted a never-saydie attitude to force the penalty shoot-out.

Sillah Sainey, Matthew Bonello and Hamza Kamara put their names on the scoresheet for the Citizens with Balzan answering back through an own-goal by Nuhu Babajo, Chris Farrugia and Jacques Vella Critien.

Immediately after these matches, the quarter-finals draws were held and these are the new fixtures for the coming weekend.

Santa Lucia Ground

2:00 pm – Marsa St.Michael vs Balluta Barracudas

3:30 pm – Tal-Qroqq Versity vs Tarxien AFC

Żurrieq Ground

2:00pm – San Giljan Saints vs Zurrieq Sunrise

3:30 pm – Balzan Youths vs Senglea Gunners