HAM

With the National League going past its half-way mark, the race for the title is as undecided as ever as Sliema Hs and Punch & Judy Rabat, thanks to the victories over the weekend, caught up with leaders The Hunter's Tower Rest. With two matches of the second round left to be played all three teams are on eighteen points and on Sunday Punch & Judy face The Hunters Tower Rest, while Sliema Hs take on The George Pub.

P W D L F A PTS
Punch & Judy Rabat 8 6 0 2 31 9 18
The Hunters Tower Rest 8 5 3 0 14 4 18
Sliema Hs. 8 5 3 0 13 6 18
The George Pub 8 2 2 4 12 22 8
Celtics YS 8 1 0 7 7 21 3
Pasta Poiatti Qormi 8 1 0 7 3 17 3

Sliema Hs 1 vs. Pasta Poiatti Qormi 0
H.T. 0-0
Umpires: Edward Hughes and Anthony Tabone

In Sunday's first game, Sliema Hs struggled but eventually got the better of Pasta Poiatti Qormi thanks to a spirited second half performance and a couple of well timed substitutions. Once again Pasta Poiatti were forced to field a depleted formation and had to play danger man Magri in defence. This tactic effected Qormi's effectiveness up front but worked well in defence were Pasta Poiatti were able to control a light weighted and somewhat pedantic Sliema attack. In fact both goalkeepers, Ramon Chircop for Pasta Poiatti and Luke Mallia for Sliema, were rarely tested. David Xuereb fired two short corners wide for Pasta Poiatti while at the end Sliema's short corners failed to test the Pasta Poiatti defence.

The second half was a different story; Caruana Smith affected a couple of changes while Pasta Poiatti lost their tactical discipline as Sliema pressed for all three points. In fact it was one of the substitutes, Peter Satariano, who mid-way through the half got the all important goal, when he fired in an unstoppable hit that took a slight deflection to rise into the top corner and gave Chircop no chance. Sliema continue to maintain more possession as Pasta Poiatti failed to muster a suitable reaction. Despite this Sliema failed to add to the score line even though they notched up a fair number of short corners.

Celtics YS 1 vs. Punch & Judy Rabat 4
H.T. 0-1
Umpires: Manuel Imbroll and Robert Aquilina

With Sliema Hs taking all three points, it was inevitable that Punch & Judy would be going all out to take all three points to join the other two teams at the top of the standings. As in previous games the reigning Champions started strongly but Celtics, contrary to their first half performance against Sliema, were a determined lot and kept Rabat at bay. Goalkeeper Abdilla was in good form even though on a couple of occasions Punch & Judy's attackers were guilty of some incredible misses. Celtics did manage some sorties into the Rabat dee and their sole attacker, Chris Bugeja, was always a source of worry when on the ball. However it was his namesake in the Punch & Judy side who set the ball rolling towards a Rabat victory.

In fact late in the half in fired in from a short corner to give his side a 1-0 half time lead. The same Bugeja doubled the score from an identical move in the second half and James Azzopardi made it three from the penalty spot. It was Celtics Chris Bugeja who made it 3-1 before Kevin Micallef closed the score at 4-1.

Fixtures:

Over the weekend a full programme of three matches will be played. On Saturday bottom sides Celtics YS and Pasta Poiatti Qormi face off at 17:00. In the first round Celtics won 1-0. On Sunday the title race resumes with Sliema Hs facing the tricky The George Pub at 9:00. The first round saw The George Pub take two points off Sliema Hs with a 2-2 draw. The second game is the top of the table clash between The Hunters Tower Rest and Punch & Judy Rabat. In the first round The Hunters Tower Rest outplayed the Champions and won 2-0.

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