It was mission accomplished for Żabbar St Patrick as the newly-promoted side avoided finishing in the bottom two places of the 360 Sports Malta Premier after grinding a point in a 2-2 draw against Marsaxlokk
On the other hand, direct rivals Naxxar Lions slumped to a disappointing 2-1 defeat at the hands of bottom-placed Balzan to finish in the relegation zone.
Melita ended the Opening Round on a high as a goal in each half from Alan Borg Olivier and Andre Carlos earned them a merited 2-0 win over Gżira United.
Żabbar finished third from bottom on 14 points, two clear of Balzan and Naxxar who ended the Opening Round in the bottom two places.
For Żabbar it was a stunning finish to the Bottom 6 as the Saints, who for much of the campaign were at the bottom of the standings, were a completely different outfit in the past few weeks as inspired by their new coach Aniello Parisi, they managed to claw themselves outside the relegation zone and can look forward to a stronger performance in the Closing Round to achieve their goal of retaining their top-flight status.
Żabbar found themselves in trouble when Marsaxlokk surged ahead on the stroke of half-time when Alex De Aguiar cooly converted a penalty to put the Southerners ahead.
But the Saints refused to throw in the towel, and they stepped up their game after the break and managed to draw level on 58 minutes. They were awarded a penalty and Brian Gambarte saw his effort from the spot saved by Marsaxlokk goalkeeper Marko Drobnjak but the prolific Żabbar forward was on hand to poke home the rebound.
Marsaxlokk were stunned and 12 minutes from time they found themselves with ten men when Lucas Lopez was dismissed.
Żabbar fully profited from their numerical advantage as Strahinja Jovancic fired them ahead on 84 minutes.
But Marsaxlokk kept fighting and managed to rescue a point in stoppage time when they were awarded a penalty which was converted by Yuri Messias.
Balzan came back from a goal down to beat Naxxar Lions 2-1.
Naxxar were a better side during the first half, taking a deserved lead but on the restart, Balzan were a transformed team, turning the score in their favour with two goals with the Lions failing to react.
The two teams shared the exchanges in the early stages but on 17 minutes, Naxxar managed to take the lead. Neil Pace Cocks received an assist by Gustavo Barbosa from the left and with a shot from outside the area, he beat goalkeeper Dylan Ciappara, placing the ball in the bottom left corner.
Naxxar missed a good opportunity with Francis Jno-Baptiste hitting just wide off a cross by Degran Jackson from the right on 24 minutes and a freekick from the left by Pace Cocks was turned into a corner by Ciappara on 37 minutes.
Five minutes in the second half, Balzan levelled matters. It was a great freekick by Victor Blasco from the left which saw the ball end in the top left corner, beating goalkeeper Matthias Debono.
The Lions replied with a Degran Jackson cross from the right from which Edson Farias’ header just missed the target on 56 minutes.
However, on 61 minutes, Balzan made it 2-1. Jan Busuttil released Oluwatobiloba Dimeji Awosanya on the right and the latter beat the Naxxar custodian with an angled shot.
Melita warmed up for the Closing Round by beating Gżira United to finish six points clear of the bottom two places.
Still not sure of Premier League safety, Melita have so far some attractive football and some sound displays which augurs well for the Amateurs for the closing stages of this campaign.
Melita began with purpose and industry – twice threatening the Gżira goal early on with Andrè Penha da Costa missing glorious chances to put them ahead.
On 25 minutes, the Brazilian striker took a favourable bounce, to outsmart Jurgen Pisani before hitting the ball instinctively just wide off the far post of Justin Haber.
Six minutes later, Melita opened the scoring when Alan Borg Olivier hit a low drive into the corner from Matthew Debattista’s deft pass.
The Maroons were sloppy and wasteful in possession, enabling Melita to dominate and dictate proceedings.
In the 79th minute, Penha da Costa claimed his seventh goal of the season when he was set up by some net combination play with Debattista.
BALZAN 2
Blasco 50
Awosanya 61
NAXXAR LIONS 1
Pace Cocks 17
BALZAN
D. Ciappara, S. Arab, T. Caruana, J. Busuttil, O. Awosanya, H. Stanic, V. Blasco (86 J. Grech), T. Malepe, U. Akpan (90 B. Hili)), R. Floro, M. Lima (74 N. Pulis).
NAXXAR LIONS
M. Debono, N. Micallef, P. Barreto, N. Pace Cocks, F. Jno-Baptiste, E. Farias (81’ M. Fenech), R. Cassar (88 O. Portelli), G. Barbosa (64 K. Haber), L. Dias (64 T. Yamaguchi), D. Jackson (88 S. Degabriele), Y. Ito.
Referee: Matthew De Gabriele.
Yellow cards: Pace Cocks, Blasco, Micallef, Portelli, Pulis.
GŻIRA UNITED 0
MELITA 2
Borg Olivier 31
Penha da Costa 79
GŻIRA UNITED
J. Haber, G. Bohrer, E. Pepe, Thaylor, H. Chouaib, J. Pisani (46 C. Sammut), M. De Filippis (69 L. Borg), D. de Santana (89 J. Bartolo), F. Zuniga (46 I. Ellul), B. Borg, T. Espindola.
MELITA
A. Lubik, G. Barone, JP. Attard, A. Penha da Costa (89 A. Attard), M. deBattista (89, P. Galea Testaferrata) A. Borg Olivier (77 M. Cachia), M. Van de Font Bovemkamp, D. Xuereb (89 B. Cassar), J. Yepez (69 K. Mohnani), N. Cutajar, H. Motta.
Referee: Daniel Casha.
Yellow cards: Marcelino, De Santana, Attard, Yepez, Thaylor, Penha da Costa.
MARSAXLOKK 2
De Aguiar 45; Messias 90 pen.
ŻABBAR SP 2
Gambarte 58; Jovancic 82
MARSAXLOKK
M. Drobnjak, N. Muscat, J. Ghio, Y. Messias, J. Arias, J. Quitongo, L. Dessypriis, A. De Aguiar, E. Pena Beltre, L. Aguirre, R. Scicluna (31 J. Walker).
ŻABBAR SP
M. Grech, J. Micallef, Wallace, B. Gambarte, S. Ilic (59 D. Fava) (81 D. Jovicic), Z. Grech, D. Tavares (81 S. Gatt), S. Jovancic, Vinicius, K. Keqi (59 M. Ferreira), J. Pedro (59 D. Oliveira).
Referee: Philip Farrugia.
Yellow cards: Pedro, Walker, Messias.
Red card: Dessypris (M) 78.
