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Naxxar Lions ended the season with a positive result, beating Xghajra Tornadoes 2- 0. The Lions are now top of the table
eagerly awaiting the outcome of Zejtun's encounter with Swieqi U in a couple of days time.
As they have done in all of their previous matches, the Lions dictated matters from the very first whistle and after only a
few minutes, from two Mario Debono crosses, Gilbert Camilleri headed above the crossbar. In the 15th minute, Naxxar broke
the deadlock when Mattia Del Negro scored after anticipating a short clearance from the Xghajra defence, firing a grounder
in the net from outside the penalty area. A minute later Darren Falzon shot from outside the penalty area slightly missing
the target. Immediately after he had another shot saved by the Xghajra rearguard after receiving the ball from a short corner.
Naxxar kept on pressing and created several other opportunities. In the 23rd minute, Darren Falzon had a header cleared off
the line by a Xghajra defender and ten minutes later Mario Debono missed from in front of goal. A minute later, Darren Falzon
had another header saved by the goalkeeper. The last opportunity of the first half was on the other side of the field, when
Xghajra Tornadoes had a good header from a corner.
In the second half, Naxxar continued where they left off in the first half, this time with the wind blowing behind their back.
After two minutes from the restart, Victor Bellia had his shot from inside the penalty area saved by the Xghajra goalkeeper and
two minutes later, Ramon Schembri had his shot going wide. In the 53rd and 59th minute, Adrian Fenech had two shots going wide
and in the 62nd minute, Mario Debono shot wide from a favourable position after receiving from Adrian Fenech. In the 68th minute,
Gilbert Camilleri shot straight in the keeper from a free kick given outside the penalty area. Fifteen minutes from time, after a
fantastic dribble, Glen Magri intelligently passed to Darren Falzon who scored with a powerful shot to double the score. From this
moment onwards, Xghajra opted to stop playing football and start a war instead, kicking and fouling at each and every opportunity.
The referee and his assistants failed to protect the Naxxar players with the consequence that In the 80th minute Naxxar lost their
captain, Ramon Schembri, when a Xghajra defender, Kirsten Buhagiar kicked him voluntarily in the leg, breaking his shin. Despite
this setback, the reds kept on pressing, creating more opportunities. In the 85th minute, Simon Muscat had his shot saved and from
the rebound, Andrea Del Negro shot wide. A minute later, Victor Bellia had a dangerous shot from the half way line which landed at
the top of the net. In the final minute, Xghajra had a free kick saved by Bjorn Attard while Mattia Del Negro had his shot saved by
the Xghajra guardian.
With this win, Naxxar Lions are now 3 points clear at the top of the table, waiting for the Zejtun Corinthians vs Swieqi match result.
Should Zejtun win the match, a decider will be played on the 18th of May to decide the league winner. From this space, we would like
to wish Ramon Schembri a speedy recovery and hope that he will be back with the team as soon as possible.
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