HAM

The National League continued on Sunday with two further matches that saw The Hunters Tower Rest and Punch & Judy Rabat register easy victories over Pasta Poiatti Qormi and The George Pub respectively. With these two matches the second round got under way.

Pasta Poiatti Qormi 0 vs. The Hunters Tower Rest. 3
H.T. 0-1
Umpires: Liam Pace and Joe Lewis

In the first game of the day, leaders The Hunter’s Tower kept marching on with clear 3-0 victory over Pasta Poiatti Qormi. After the victory against The George Pub, Pasta Poiatti approached this game without the pressure of still having to register a victory or even score a goal. However The Hunters Tower Rest were superior at every level of the game and in the end the 3-0 score line might have even been greater. Pasta Poiatti started the game brightly and managed to keep their opponents at bay. There were very few chances for both teams although the League leaders had more of the possession. However, as so frequently happened this season, their first goal arrived after a short corner move. The first hit at goal was parried by goalkeeper Chircop and so was the subsequent rebound but he could do nothing to stop the shot from Nicky Agius Darmanin from going in. In spite of this, Pasta Poiatti kept battling and gave a good account of themselves throughout the first half.

The second half was a different matter. The Hunters Tower Rest doubled their lead from another short corner move through Christian Fenech and then the temporary sending off of Philip Magri shattered any hopes that Pasta Poiatti might have had of salvaging anything from the game. Young Stars mounted attack after attack each time stretching the Qormi defence. Despite some resilient defending by Meli, Micallef and goalkeeper Chircop, the Pasta Poiatti goal was breached once again for the third time by Jonathan Ellul following a good move from the Floriana team.

Punch & Judy Rabat 7 vs. The George Pub 1
H.T. 5-0
Umpires: Manuel Imbroll and Andre Ghio


In the second game of the day Punch & Judy Rabat made for their recent setbacks with a 7-1 drubbing of The George Pub. Without the suspended Josef Antonelli, Rabat were still streets ahead of their opponents as they raced into a five goal lead by the twentieth minute. With their list of long term absentees not getting shorter (Ray Bezzina is the latest addition), The George Pub were swamped by their opponents who were coming from two consecutive defeats and unleashed their pent up frustrations against inexperienced opponents. After barely one minute Chris Bugeja set the ball rolling when he converted a penalty stroke given for an infringement by Mario Falzon. Five minutes later it was Jason Vella who doubled with a spectacular first time lob and Rene` Antonelli made it three in the 9M. The George Pub were no were in the game as Seychell got on the score sheet on 14M. Two minutes later it was Antonelli who got his second to make the score 5-0. This goal was symbolic of the game as the Rabat played the ball around their opponent’s dee with impunity until they found the unmarked Antonelli who deflected past Galea.

After this whirlwind start Punch & Judy pulled in the reigns and opted to control the game. The George Pub pulled a goal back at the start of the second when from a well worked short corner Luke Borg Costanzi got his first senior goal. Rabat restored their five goal lead on 15M as Seychell got his second after he was set up by Vella. The George Pub goalkeeper, Galea, kept the score ‘relatively’ low with a number of good saves but Seychell rounded off his hat-trick in the final minute to close the score at 7-1.


Standings:

P W D L F A PTS
The Hunters Tower Rest 6 5 1 0 12 2 16
Punch & Judy Rabat 6 4 0 2 23 7 12
Sliema Hs. 5 3 2 0 8 4 11
The George Pub 6 1 1 4 8 19 4
Celtics YS 5 1 0 4 3 11 3
Pasta Poiatti Qormi 6 1 0 5 2 12 3

Fixtures:

The National League continues with a full programme of three matches. On Saturday The George Pub take on Celtics YS at 17:00 with both sides doing their best to improve their present situation. The first round match ended 2-0 in favour of The George Pub. On Sunday at 9:00am The Hunters Tower Rest and Sliema Hs, the two sides still unbeaten, clash in an important top of the table clash. The first round game ended 0-0. At 11:00am Punch & Judy

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