Birkirkara, Swieqi United, Raiders Lija through to women’s cup semis

Birkirkara, Swieqi United and Raiders Lija secured their semi-finals berth in the Women’s Knock-Out competition.

The women’s domestic cup, returning after an absence of two years, was launched with a trio of Round 1 fixtures which determined the three semi-finalists joining Mtarfa in the final four.

Mtarfa, who advanced directly to the semi-finals after being given a bye in the draw, will face Swieqi.

On the other hand, Birkirkara will take on Raiders Lija in an intriguing matchup.

The Stripes made little work of rivals Mġarr United after hitting the Greens for six.

Melania Bajada’s girls forged ahead after just six minutes through Gabriella Zahra. Before half-time, the Stripes had managed to open a four-goal lead thanks to goals from Alishia Sultana, Raina Giusti and Patricia Lamanna.

Giusti marked her personal brace in the second half with Tracy Teuma being the other scorer in what has been a strong showing by the league champions.

On the other hand, Raiders Lija found it harder than expected to dispatch of a resilient San Ġwann side that finished bottom of the table in the league with just four points.

San Ġwann, led by Jean Paul Attard, managed to hold Raiders to a 0-0 draw in regular time.

Denis Guerra’s Raiders managed to overcome the hurdle in the 107th minute thanks to Cristina Hili, making their pressure count having created numerous chances but failing to capitalise on them.

In the other game, two first-half goals by Jade Flask and Shona Zammit were enough for Swieqi to beat Kirkop United and move in the final four of the competition.

Photo: Stephen Gatt