Nwoke's gem saves Msida, dooms Balzan

Msida St Joseph 2
Balzan Youths 1

A vintage solo effort from Nigerian striker Daniel Nwoke ensured Msida St Joseph fulfilled their dream of another crack at Premier League football next season.

The Saints secured such a prized reward in their very last match of the campaign yesterday after making do with the stern challenge of Balzan Youths in a tense relegation showdown.

The game was evenly poised when, on 57 minutes, Nwoke set off on a dazzling run which ended with the ball being slipped past Ernest Barry, the Balzan goalkeeper, with typical nonchalance.

That was to prove the defining moment of the match as Msida, who had trailed to an excellent Stefan Zahra free-kick after 15 minutes, seized the lead for the first time and never let it go, despite Balzan's frantic efforts to net an equaliser and force a relegation decider.

Their victory yesterday was the culmination of a remarkable recovery by the Saints who for much of the outgoing season seemed heading for a swift return to Division One only to come good when it mattered most.

Not so for Balzan. A string of creditable results had installed them as favourites to stave off relegation before their final-day match against Msida but a couple of disastrous defeats, including a 3-0 reverse to their conquerors, deeply endangered their salvation prospects before yesterday's upset condemned them to Division One.

Yet, all had started so brightly in the Ta' Qali sunshine yesterday.

The sight of Nigerian striker Anthony EviParker running out of the Ta' Qali tunnels with the remaining 10 players making up Balzan's starting formation for yesterday's showdown will surely have filled the club's faithful with renewed optimism.

EviParker's long absence due to a shoulder injury was cited as one of the reasons for their notable decline.

Having the luxury of choosing his team from a full squad, Donald Attard, the Msida coach, fielded his strongest formation.

Eleven minutes from the start had elapsed when Ernest Barry, the Balzan 'keeper, made the first noteworthy contribution of the afternoon.

He parried a close-range but central shot from Msida's Aganun after the latter's fellow Nigerian compatriot Nwoke nodded the ball into his path from a Joseph Farrugia free-kick.

Four minutes later, the stalemate was broken but not by Msida.

Balzan were awarded a free-kick some four metres outside the penalty box, Jaroslav Marx flicked the ball into the open space to his right and Zahra let fly a rocket-like free-kick that sailed into the top-right corner of the net.

Falling behind so early in such a decisive game, Msida strove hard to take their game to their opponents. Minutes after Zahra's breakthrough, perseverance rather than excellence created a melee inside the Balzan box but Joseph Farrugia's shot was blocked by Barry.

On 21 minutes, the Msida players and fans erupted with joy as Manuel Boni chipped in with an important equaliser.

Msida's goal came from another deadball situation only that this time Boni applied a slight swerve to his free-kick that was enough to elude Barry after Marx had also failed to head the ball clear.

Balzan were grateful to Barry for preventing Msida taking the lead after sloppy defending inside the box allowed Nwoke to rise unimpeded to meet Charles Sciberras' cross.

Luckily for Balzan, his headed attempt was kept out by Barry who had good reason to berate the red-shirted players in front of him.

Attard, the Msida coach, was forced to effect a substitution six minutes from half-time to replace Adrian Farrugia who failed to recover from a blow suffered in an aerial collision with Balzan's David Agius. His void was filled by Donald Gatt.

Seconds before referee Joe Attard brought first half proceedings to an end, Alex Muscat squandered a gilt-edged chance to give Balzan a nice tonic to take into half-time when completely miscuing his strike from routine distance.

Balzan's priority at the start of the second half was to try and exploit the vision and passing ability of their skipper Marx to mount methodical build-ups. Their strategy gave them a slight edge but their efforts were undone when Msida stormed ahead.

The second half was only 12 minutes old when Nwoke burst through the entire Balzan defence with a blistering run from the middle before planting the ball low past Barry.

Balzan had an immediate chance to re-establish parity when Zahra's mishit shot took a deflection and spun up in the air towards EviParker whose looping header from close distance was touched away by Omar Borg.

In the 71st minute, a Marx angled free-kick was deflected away by Charles Sciberras. Briffa's three substitutions in the last 25 minutes of the game were clearly designated to add fresh impetus to his side's attacking manoeuvres.

Gilbert Scerri, in for Agius midway through the second half, was arguably the most effective of Balzan's late entrants but his jinking runs either foundered on the solid Msida defence or found no support from his labouring companions.

In time added on, Msida's Farrugia was banished to the dressing rooms after he received his second booking for time-wasting. Balzan's late attempts to save the game also saw Barry charging upfield to add weight to their attack but it was to no avail.

The day belonged to Msida who celebrated wildly after Attard sounded the final whistle.

Msida SJ: O. Borg-6, J. Galea-6, M. Boni-7, J. Mifsud-6, A. Farrugia-5 ('39 D. Gatt-7), D. Cachia-7 ('81 G. Ohaegbu), C. Sciberras-7, F. Cauchi-6 ('66 V. Bellia), J. Farrugia-6, O. Aganun-6, D. Nwoke-8.

Balzan Y.: E. Barry-6, A. Muscat-7, D. Agius-6 ('67 G, Scerri-6), S. Grima-5 ('76 M. Valenzia), S. Tellus-5, M. Caruana-6, N. Filipov-5, J. Marx-7, S. Zahra-6 ('83 K. Coleiro), K. Curmi-5, A. EviParker-5.

Referee: Joe Attard.

Scorers: Zahra 15; Boni 21; Nwoke 57.

Yellow Cards: Galea; Grima; Tellus; Gatt; Farrugia; Bellia.

Red Card: J. Farrugia 90.

MIA Player of the Match: Daniel Nwoke (Msida SJ).