Birkirkara 1
Bolton Wanderers 2

Two goals in the opening 14 minutes were enough for Bolton Wanderers to chalk up their first win on Maltese soil after beating Bir-kirkara 2-1 in the second match of the Summer International Tournament 2003 in front of a packed Hibs Ground.

Considering the quality of their opponents yesterday, it was a good performance from Stephen Azzo-pardi's men who managed to recover from a poor start to share the exchanges with the English Premiership outfit for most of the game.

But, still, the difference in quality between the two sides was apparent.

In their starting formation, Bolton's Sam Allardyce had world class players the type of France World Cup winning midfielder Youri Djorkaeff, Nigerian wizard Jay Jay Okocha and former Milan defender Bruno Ngotty.

Djorkaeff's inspiration seemed to make all the difference and his exit after heading home Bolton's second goal was badly felt by the Lancashire club who lost their initial sparkle.

The visitors took only four minutes to break the stalemate with a gem of a goal.

A Djorkaeff corner from the right was partially cleared by the Birkirkara rearguard, the ball fell into the path of Okocha who unleashed a powerful volley that gave Justin Haber no chance. A great goal that indeed explains why the Nigerian is often dubbed as the 'African Maradona'.

It was 2-0 before the quarter of an hour. Bonnici forced Haber into a desperate save after inadvertently heading towards his own goal an Okocha throw-in, in came Djorkaeff who nodded the ball home despite the challenge of Lucian Dronca.

Here, the Frenchman hurt his face in the impact with Dronca and was replaced by compatriot Ibrahim Ba.

The Stripes' first attempt on goal arrived on the half-hour mark when Haruna Doda was released in the Bolton area by Camenzuli but the Nigerian's shot skimmed just wide.

Just before the break Lino Galea should have pulled one back for the locals when with only Jaaskelainen to beat he shot straight into the Bolton goalkeeper's arms.

But the Stripes' perseverance was rewarded six minutes after the interval when Calascione's cross was drilled home by Lino Galea.

Goalmouth action became rare even though Calascione had a glorious chance to level matters late in the game when put through by Michael Galea. His shot was fisted away by Jaaskelainen with the ball rolling wide of the post. It would have been a creditable outcome for Birkirkara but it was not to be.

Birkirkara: J. Haber, M.A. Bonnici, L. Galea, W. Camenzuli, M. Calascione, H. Doda (A. Tabone 84), M. Galea, C. Nwoko, L. Dronca, R. Briffa, G. Mallia.

Bolton: J. Jaaskelainen, N. Hunt, S. Charlton, P. Frandsen, B. Ngotty, F. Laville, Y. Djorkaeff, K. Nolan, K. Davies, J.J. Okocha, H. Pedersen.

Subs used: Ibrahim Ba (15); Jeff Smith (45); Ivan Campo (45); Delroy Facey (70); George Farrell (70); Anthony Barness (74); Jonathan Walters (85).

Referee: Anton Zammit.

Scorers: Okocha 4; Djorkaeff 14; L. Galea 51.

Standings: Bolton 3; Floriana 1, Birkirkara 1.

Tomorrow - Bolton vs Floriana (6.30 p.m.).