Hibs, Swieqi face off as leaders Stripes set for Raiders test

Birkirkara and Swieqi United will be eyeing the three points as the race for the Assikura Women’s League crown continues this week.

The Stripes, who are chasing their 11th championship, are at the back of a comfortable victory over Mtarfa to maintain their three-point lead at the top.

Sara Saliba was on an inspiring form as she has now scored nine goals, following her poker registered in last week’s outing.

In addition to her goals, Birkirkara will be now counting heavily on the goals from their newly-signed forward Brisa Campos.

Born in Argentina, Campos made her Birkirkara debut against Mtarfa and managed to grab a hat-trick in the second half.

This week, Jose Borg’s side will be facing one of the two teams that managed to hold them to a draw this season so far – Raiders Lija.

Led by Denis Guerra, Raiders Lija slipped to their fourth defeat of the season after losing 3-0 to Hibernians in their most recent outing.

Nonetheless, they remain a team stacked with local talent including Hannah Khatib who made her club debut against the Paolites.

In the first round game, Sabrin Blihi scored after three minutes and were narrowly leading the Stripes until Alishia Sultana grabbed the leveller.

With 38 goals scored, Birkirkara have the second best offensive record in the league. Leading this chart is Swieqi United, who netted 10 more goals in 10 league appointments.

Three of the 48 goals were registered last week as Swieqi defeated Mġarr United 3-0 at the Centenary Stadium.

Jade Flask scored a brace as she now leads the league’s scoring charts with 12 goals and is expected to be the main threat when the Owls face Hibernians.

Judith Kuipers’ side are on 23 points, just three behind Birkirkara, but are also four above Hibernians – albeit Keith Gouder’s side played an extra game.

For Hibernians this could be an opportunity to beat one of the top two teams in the Maltese game while cutting the distance from the second place.

In three games against Birkirkara and Swieqi, Hibernians lost all encounters so far but have managed to gain a point against Mġarr in the second round while beating Raiders Lija twice.

Last week, goals from Yolande Attard, Alexis Espitia and Kayleigh Chetcuti handed Hibernians their sixth win of the season to move to 19 points, in third place.

In the other game of the week, San Ġwann and Mtarfa will be crossing swords in an important clash in the bottom half of the table.

Mtarfa are currently on three points, having won the reverse fixture against this week’s opponents.

San Ġwann, on their part, have scored one more goal (3) than Mtarfa in their 10 games played so far.

THIS WEEK’S FIXTURES

TUESDAY

San Ġwann vs Mtarfa – Centenary Stadium, 20.00

WEDNESDAY

Raiders Lija vs Birkirkara – Centenary Stadium, 20.00

Hibernians vs Swieqi United – Mġarr Ground, 20.30

MD13 bye: Mġarr United.

Photo: Elena Grech.