Qormi crush 10-man Spartans

QORMI-4, HAMRUN SPARTANS-0 Qormi struck four goals in the second half to ease past derby rivals Hamrun Spartans who played with 10 men for 75 minutes after the early dismissal of goalkeeper Andrea Cassar. Edison Zarate hit a brace for Qormi who gained their first victory after two defeat while Hamrun conceded their seventh defeat in a row. Thanks to this win, Qormi leafrogged Balzan into eighth place while Hamrun remain third from bottom. Inside the opening two minutes, Hamrun defender Massimo Grima headed against the top of crossbar from Ryan Spiteri's corner. The Spartans suffered a setback on 15 minutes when goalkeeper Andrea Cassar was shown a straight red card for fielding the ball outside the box as he saved a shot from the goalbound Sebastiano Siritto. Anthony Curmi, the Spartans reserve goalkeeper, came on for Glenn Azzopardi. Kris Thackray's shot from the ensuing free-kick was high. Unsurprisingly, Qormi took the initiative. Thackray hit wide from the edge of the box before Siritto had a close-range effort saved by Curmi after he was teed up by Leighton Grech. Eight minutes from half-time, Thackray headed over from Edison Bilbao Zarate's corner. Roderick Fenech, the...