Sprightly St Patrick foil Birkirkara

St Patrick 3
Birkirkara 3

Contrasting feelings of relief and disappointment engulfed the Birkirkara clan yesterday afternoon.

Relief came in the shape of Etienne Barbara's 75th minute strike which spared the Stripes the embarrassment of losing to a sprightly St Patrick side.

But there was also a tinge of frustration about their comeback feat as the point obtained yesterday was of no use to Birkirkara.

Starting the day third in the table on 31 points, Birkirkara needed a victory to ensure the addition of another point to their total at the beginning of the Championship Pool but the draw left things as they were.

Bearing in mind that every team in the top flight will commence the second phase with only half of the points they accumulated in the first two rounds, the Stripes, who paid a high price for the first-half sending-off of Mark Anthony Bonnici, will kick off their final assault for the title with 16 points, the same they would have started with even had they been toppled by St Patrick.

The same does not apply to the Saints whose reward for their exhilarating display of counter-attacking football in their final match against one of the top dogs, is an extra point at the start of the Relegation Pool as their current nine points will be rounded to five.

St Patrick had given their illustrious opponents some food for thought when they opened the scoring after five minutes. Nigerian striker Peter Chizoba Anizoba summoned his speed and agility to throw Lucian Dronca and Precious Monye off balance before rolling a low shot past Saviour Darmanin.

Six minutes later the equilibrium might have been restored had Adrian Ciantar not rifled the ball over the bar from an inviting position after the Saints defence had partially cleared a cross by George Mallia.

Birkirkara's response to Anizoba's surprising breakthrough yielded a succession of corners and free-kicks which caused the St Patrick defence some anxious moments.

First, Chucks Nwoko's dipping cross from a free-kick was headed away by Benoir Fenech and later, Ciantar's corner looked to have been touched onto the post by Franklin Azzopardi, the St Patrick goalkeeper.

Midway into the first half, Haruna Doda's service sailed tantalisingly across the face of goal but Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza just failed to make connection with the ball.

The former Floriana striker made quick amends for his miss when he stole in at the far post to nod the ball home after another inviting corner by Ciantar had been flicked on Dronca.

Nwoko may have put his team in the driving seat within minutes of Mifsud Triganza's equaliser but his free-kick dropped just wide.

St Patrick's escape was only temporary as two minutes past the half hour, Birkirkara nosed ahead. Barbara's diagonal run from the left opened up the St Patrick defence and his cut-back was hammered home by Mifsud Triganza.

Birkirkara were in seventh heaven but only fleetingly. Ten minutes from the end of the first half, the Stripes suffered a double blow when Bonnici was shown the red card for palming away Anizoba's goalbound flick from a Gordon Failla free-kick.

Referee Kevin Azzopardi instantly pointed to the spot and flashed the red card in Bonnici's face before Mark Tanti despatched the penalty low past Darmanin. Two-all.

St Patrick may have experienced some tense situations amid Birkirkara's relentless pressure but to their credit, they always strove to counter-attack with intent thanks largely to Anizoba, Tanti and Sandro Costa Brazilino, who had come on for Darren Pisani on the half hour.

Azzopardi's reply to his side's numerical handicap saw him introducing a defensive-minded player in Roderick Sammut instead of Lino Galea. Six minutes into the second half, Doda centred for Mifsud Triganza but the latter's volley lacked the power to trouble Azzopardi.

The early exchanges of the second half belonged to Birkirkara but St Patrick never renounced to their attacking potential.

A swerving Tanti free-kick forced Darmanin into a difficult save 12 minutes after the restart. Then, another smooth counter-attack by the Saints saw Costa Brazilino releasing Anizoba but the Nigerian shot high.

The next time Anizoba was through on goal, he did not miss. Costa Brazilino produced the telling pass from the middle towards Anizoba who showed the stuttering Monye a clean pair of boots and fired the ball past the rooted Darmanin.

Birkirkara were shocked but 15 minutes from time, their flailing spirits were lifted when Barbara, one of their more enterprising players yesterday, slotted the ball home after unmarked by Ciantar's pass.

Doda jinked his way into the Saints' box but his strike was lifted over the bar by Cassar as St Patrick hung on to their point.

St Patrick: F. Azzopardi-6, M. Pullicino-6 ('80 S. Dimech), R. Cassar-7, D. Gauci-6, M. Tanti-7, C. Micallef-6 ('88 S. Abdilla), G. Failla-6, D. Pisani-5 ('29 S Costa Brazilino-8), B. Fenech-6, P. Chizoba Anizoba-9, S. Zerafa-6.

Birkirkara: S. Darmanin-6, M.A. Bonnici, L. Galea-5 ('46 R. Sammut-6), P. Monye-5, H. Doda-7, C. Nwoko-5, L. Dronca-5, J.P. Mifsud Triganza-7, G. Mallia-6, E. Barbara-8, A. Ciantar-7.

Referee: Kevin Azzopardi.

Scorers: Anizoba 5, 67; Mifsud Triganza 28, 32; Tanti 37 pen.; Barbara 75.

Yellow Cards: Cassar; Pullicino; Ciantar; Tanti; Monye; Barbara.

Red Card: Bonnici 35.

Player Of The Match: Peter Chizoba Anizoba (St Patrick).