Valletta stay clear at the top

VALLETTA-2, PEMBROKE ATHLETA-0 Two goals in the first half extended Valletta's winning run as the leaders downed Pembroke Athleta. Jhonnattann and Abdelkarim Nafti produced two fine strikes to keep Valletta on course to win the title as they restored their four-point gap on Hibernians with six games remaining. The game was eight minutes old when Valletta came close to opening the scoring. Ryan Camilleri's cross from the right was deflected towards Nafti at the far post and the Tunisian sent in perfect cross towards Federico Falcone who headed over from an inviting position. Henry Bonello, the Valletta goalkeeper, then made a fine save as he beat away Paltemio Barbetti's piledriver from the distance. A brilliant pass from left-back Ian Azzopardi led to Valletta's opener on 14 minutes as the ball landed at the  feet of Jhonnattann who bursty past two defenders and drove the ball into the top corner. Falcone had a header blocked by Mario Muscat after the Argentine met a cross from Camilleri midway into the first half but Pembroke refused to lie down. Ariel Laudisi  raced clear of his markers before hitting a fierce drive that was tipped away by Bonello. Pembroke were seeing more of...