Watch: Żabbar St Patrick ease past Naxxar Lions

ŻABBAR SP               2         

Tavares 29, Oliveira 77

NAXXAR LIONS       0

ŻABBAR SP

L. Camilleri, J. Micallef, B. Gambarte, S. Ilic (63 S. Gatt), Z. Grech, J. Pisani, D. Tavares, J. Pedro, D. Jovicic, M. Santos (87 A. Iervolino), D. Oliveira.

NAXXAR LIONS

M. Debono, N. Micallef, B. Sane (35 T. Yamaguchi), N. Pace Cocks (76 R. Cassar), E. Bolanos, E. Farias (86 K. Haber), H. Santos (76 J. Farrugia), H. Correira, Maicon, F. Barbosa, J. Moura (76 Z. Ho-A-Tham).

Referee: Emanuel Grech.

Yellow Cards: Grech, Barbosa.

Despite being unable to field their best formation, Żabbar St Patrick kick-started their Bottom 6 commitments with a fine 2-0 win over Naxxar Lions.

The Saints scored a goal in each half to collect three precious points which put them on level points with Hibernians on 17 points, four ahead of Gżira United, leaving Naxxar at the bottom of the table, level with Melita, on ten points, and one behind Balzan.

Hibernians and Melita, however, have a game in hand.

With Vinicius De Paiva, Wallace Bonilha, Strahinja Jovancic, Kristian Keqi and Justin Haber all ruled out through suspension and coach Aniello Parisi unable to lead the team from the bench, Żabbar had three changes from the team which lost to Mosta last week as Jurgen Pisani, Joao Pedro and David Oliveira were handed a start.

Naxxar, on the other hand, welcomed back goalkeeper Matthias Debono and Edson Farias after both missed the clash with Ħamrun Spartans.

Shots at goal were few and far in between and it was only after 20 minutes that Żabbar had a first attempt at goal as Diogo Tavares had a corner from the left blocked by Debono on 20 minutes. Five minutes later, Farias tested Luca Camilleri with an angled shot from the left.

Żabbar managed to take the lead on 29 minutes.

Brian Gambarte exchanged the ball with David Oliveira before serving Diogo Tavares on the right and the latter beat Debono with a fine shot.

In the second half, Naxxar went out in search of the equaliser and on 57 minutes, Maicon had a powerful rising shot from the right turned into a corner by Luca Camilleri.

However, on 77 minutes, Żabbar doubled the score.

Tavares delivered a corner from the right and David Oliveira headed home past goalkeeper Debono.

Naxxar went close to reducing the gap on 84 minutes when off a Nikolai Micallef freekick, Jean Paul Farrugia headed the ball down and Takuma Yamaguchi had a close-range effort blocked by Camilleri.