Birkirkara take big step towards seventh consecutive women’s title

Stripes beat Swieqi United to move eight points clear with four games left.

SWIEQI UNITED 1-3 BIRKIRKARA
Dorianne Theuma 81 (S); Arianna Del Moral 6, 27; Sara Saliba 57 (B).

Arianna Del Moral scored twice and Sara Saliba followed up with a second-half goal to hand Birkirkara a crucial victory over title rivals Swieqi United in Thursday’s head-to-head.

This win sees Birkirkara open an eight-point lead over Swieqi and with four games left, the Stripes have one hand on a seventh straight title, their 12th overall.

Jose Borg’s side broke the deadlock early through Arianna Del Moral, who had also scored against Swieqi in December’s Super Cup final.

The American midfielder doubled Birkirkara’s lead just before the half-hour mark.

Youngster Sara Saliba extended Birkirkara’s lead to three goals after coming off the bench.

Swieqi did pull one back through captain Dorianne Theuma but it was too little too late for them to rescue a positive result from this game.

The women’s league continues on Friday with Hibernians against Mġarr United before the Bottom Four games take place on Saturday.

SWIEQI UNITED
P. Araujo; J. Dimech, D. Theuma, J. Flask, S. Abdulai (72 K. Micallef), K. Abdulai, S. Zammit, Rafanny, J. Schembri, T. Falzon, M. Cachia.

BIRKIRKARA
J. Xuereb; A. Said, S. Farrugia, F. Chircop (46 S. Saliba), A. Sultana (76 N. Kobayashi), V. Mifsud (76 G. Zahra), C. Zammit, M. Grosso, A. Del Moral, C. Rogers, V. Rapa.

Referee: Ranald Portelli.