A depleted Hibernians squad scored a late winning penalty to put Birkirkara’s title bid on ice.
The Stripes headed into Saturday’s match with an eight-point lead at the top and a combination of a Birkirkara’s victory and Swieqi United failing to beat Mġarr United would have sealed their 12th title.
However, the title race is once again open with Birkirkara’s lead cut to five and with three games left.
In their next game, Birkirkara take on Mġarr where they will be without winger Alishia Sultana after picking up her fourth yellow card, before rubbing shoulders with Swieqi in their penultimate game.
Jose Borg’s Stripes threw everything at Hibernians and dominated proceedings throughout the entire 90 minutes.
Hibs, on their part, put on an impressive fighting spirit as they had to make up for the key absences of Amy Busuttil, Nicole Sciberras and captain Martina Borg.
American defender Kiley Norkus scored the all-important goal deep in stoppage time when Alexis Espitia was floored by Janice Xuereb.
Norkus converted from the penalty spot as Hibs move to 41 points.
Swieqi United took advantage of Birkirkara’s surprising defeat against Hibernians to move five points behind the Stripes.
The Owls opened the score just before half-time when Malta U-17’s international Kaysia Micallef broke the deadlock.
After the change of ends, Swieqi scored twice through forward Jade Flask who returned to the senior national team during the February international window.
In the Bottom Four section, Valletta scored a comeback win against San Ġwann to extend their winning streak with goals from Eduarda Martins and Laura Muscat.
Oumaima Mhalli scored for San Ġwann.
In the other match, Edera Marmara’s goal was enough to hand Lija Athletic a narrow win over Mtarfa.
