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maltatoday SUNDAY, 12 MARCH 2017 Sport 52 SUBSTITUTE Oumar Niasse struck twice in the second half as Hull gave a huge boost to their Premier League survival hopes with a 2-1 win over fellow strug- glers Swansea. Tigers boss Marco Silva intro- duced former Everton man Ni- asse in the 63rd minute and the Senegalese striker responded with two goals in the space of 11 minutes. First Niasse steered a low shot past Swans keeper Lukasz Fabi- anski after Abel Hernandez had flicked on an Omar Elabdellaoui through-ball in the 69th minute. Then he lashed home a bounc- ing ball which Ahmed Elmoham- ady had threaded into the box to seal three precious points for his side despite Alfie Mawson's in- jury time consolation. The win moves Silva's men above fellow strugglers Middles- brough and just one point away from fourth bottom Crystal Pal- ace. Joshua King scored a hat-trick as Bournemouth eased their own relegation fears with a dramatic 3-2 win over West Ham at the Vi- tality Stadium. King could even afford to miss a first half penalty - one of two squandered by the Cherries - be- fore going on to snatch the winner for his side in injury time. Michail Antonio had given the Hammers the lead moments after King splayed his spot-kick wide, then King equalised before Benik Afobe dribbled Bournemouth's second spot-kick straight at Dar- ren Randolph. King put the home side in front three minutes into the second half despite protests of offside against the goalscorer and of hand ball by Afobe. Andre Ayew thought he had grabbed a point for the Hammers seven minutes from time but King pounced late to complete his hat- trick and nudge the Cherries clos- er to safety. Romelu Lukaku grabbed his 19th goal of the season as Ever- ton coasted to their fifth straight home Premier League win with a 3-0 triumph over West Brom. First half goals from Kevin Mi- rallas and Morgan Schneider- lin put the home side in control with Lukaku missing a number of chances to join Harry Kane at the top of the scoring chart. But Lukaku finally seized his chance in the 82nd minute when he nodded home the simplest of chances at the far post after Ross Barkley's cross. Everton substitute Idrissa Gu- eye struck the woodwork late on as Ronald Koeman's men wrapped up one of their most routine wins of the season so far. FOOTBALL Lewandowski double sends Bayern 10 points clear King hat-trick gives Bournemouth vital win over West Ham STRIKER Robert Lewandowski scored twice to help Bayern Mu- nich beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 yesterday and open up a 10-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga. Playing their fifth game in 15 days and four days after their 5-1 Champions League demolition of Arsenal, Bayern never hit top form but are cruising to a record- extending fifth straight league crown with second-placed RB Leipzig losing 1-0 to VfL Wolfs- burg. Unusually, Bayern had to strike against the run of play with Ein- tracht coming close on two occa- sions before Poland forward Le- wandowski put them ahead after good work from Thomas Mueller in the 38th minute. Brazilian Douglas Costa dou- bled their lead three minutes later, finishing off a quick break and Lewandowski perfectly con- verted a sweet cross from Arjen Robben 10 minutes after the re- start for his 20th league goal of the season. The Bavarians, whose defender Jerome Boateng returned from injury after more than three months out, are now on 59 points. Leipzig are second on 49 af- ter Mario Gomez grabbed the winner for the visitors with his eighth goal of the season as the Wolves celebrated their first win under coach Andries Jonker in his second game in charge. The win lifted Wolfsburg three points away from the relegation zone and into 14th. Borussia Dortmund could not take advantage of Leipzig's rare slip-up, losing 2-1 at Hertha Ber- lin, who went ahead with Salo- mon Kalou's sixth league goal in the 11th minute. Dortmund came agonisingly close to an equaliser through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang right after the restart. But the Bundesliga's top scorer, who hit a hat-trick in their 4-0 win over Benfica in the Champi- ons League in midweek, did not miss in the 55th, drilling in from a tight angle to level with his 22nd league goal. Marvin Plattenhardt dashed Dortmund's hopes, however, thundering a 71st-minute free kick into the top corner to leave Dortmund stuck on 43 points in third place and Hertha closing in on 40 in fifth. Hoffenheim missed the chance to leapfrog into third after a 1-1 draw at Freiburg and remained fourth on 42. Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski celebrates after scoring a goal.

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