Marsakala win Division One title

Marsaskala ended their campaign with a clean slate when they beat Valletta yesterday in the second match of the Play-Off series to add the First Division league title after winning the Knock-Out earlier this month.

Three goals to the good inside the first eight minutes, Marsaskala looked in better shape as Joe Cremona saw his Valletta side mess things up with a series of unforced errors.

Yet, it had not been so rosy for Arpad Babay’s men after they went into a 4-1 lead.

Valletta looked sharper in the second session as their comeback, mainly through the opportunism of Daniel Paolella and Zach Micallef, helped them to reduce the arrears to just one goal.

The south seasiders regained their composure as the third quarter got underway as Mark Carani made it 7-5.

With Paolella out on fouls, Valletta lost their cover in front of their defence as David Pace Lupi and Malcolm Mannara extended their advantage to four goals by the end of the third session.

The rest was academic. Valletta had long accepted defeat. Parliamentary Secretary Clifton Grima presented the trophy to Marsaskala captain Jean Claude Cutajar.

VALLETTA 6

MARSASKALA 9

(1-4, 3-2, 1-3, 1-0)

VALLETTA B. Busuttil, N. Farrugia, M. Pace 1, T. Said, S. Busuttil, Z. Micallef 2, D. Paolella 2, M. Mifsud, S. Micallef, A. Agius, K. Galea, K. Cremona 1, A. Bugeja, O. Zammit, R. Attard.

MARSASKALA J. Micallef, JC Cutajar, A. Camenzuli , P. Privitera , R. Greco, G. Galea, K. Navarro 1 , M. Manara 1, D. Pace Lupi 3 , G. Sammut, J. Ciantar 2 , M. Carani 2, A. Muscat, F. Scardino, L. Falzon.

Referees: A. Nicolai, N. Mercieca.