Leaders Birkirkara maintained a four-point cushion on second-placed Floriana as they defeated Sliema Wanderers 1-0 in a match from the 360Sports Malta Premier Opening Round at the Tony Bezzina Stadium on Thursday.
While the Stripes extend their winning streak to six matches, the Wanderers suffer their first defeat after obtaining three wins and three draws from the first six matches. They are now fourth on 12 points, two behind Hibernians, three behind Floriana and seven behind Birkirkara.
The Stripes scored the all important goal six minutes in the second half when off a corner from the right, the ball bounced onto Alessandro Coppola and into the net.
Balzan 2 Gzira United 1
Balzan returned to winning ways as they defeated Gzira United 2-1 in a match from the 360Sports Malta Premier Opening Round at the Victor Tedesco Stadium on Thursday.
For Balzan, this was the first win in four matches following a draw with Hamrun and defeats to Zabbar and Marsaxlokk and now they move seventh on 8 points, two ahead of Melita, Marsaxlokk and Mosta, just two behind Gzira United.
Gzira, on the other hand, suffer a second consecutive defeat to go three matches without a win.
Balzan took the lead on 21 minutes when off a Jan Busuttil freekick from the right, Henri Braham Stanic chested the ball past goalkeeper Darijan Zarkov.
Isaac Westendorf doubled the score on 73 minutes after concluding a good run on the left flank with an angled shot which beat the Gzira custodian.
Gzira reduced the gap seven minutes from time courtesy of a Gabriel Bohrer Mentz penalty after substitute Faysal Chouaib was brought down inside the area.
