Birkirkara put up show of force

Birkirkara 2
Hibernians 0

Birkirkara produced another eye-catching show of force yesterday to fuel their supporters' growing optimism of ending a six-year wait for the Stripes' second championship.

Pitched in a second round battle against leaders Hibernians, Birkirkara raised the performance bar by another notch as they overwhelmed their opponents with their high-tempo, flowing football.

Their forceful display saw them storming into a merited two-goal lead by the end of the 45 minutes. Such was Birkirkara's supremacy in the opening half that few if any would have batted an eyelid had the Stripes gone into the break with a bigger advantage. That they failed to do this was exclusively due to the defiance of Mario Muscat, the Hibs 'keeper.

The three points moved Birkirkara top of the standings alongside Sliema and Hibs, all on 34 points.

By the time the two teams walked out of the tunnel for the start of the match, the atmosphere on the stands had become vibrant and loud as the two sets of fans strove to outdo each other in terms of colour and noise.

Robert Gatt, the Hibernians coach, gave new signing Dave Williamson his debut. The much-travelled Irishman took up a right-sided position in Hibs' four-man midfield in which Peter Pullicino and Essien Mbong occupied the two central roles. Julian Vella was again preferred to Clayton Failla on the left.

The attacking formation deployed by Gatt was not too dissimilar from that fielded by Stephen Azzopardi, his Birkirkara counterpart.

Encouraged by his team's energetic displays of late, Azzopardi stayed faithful to a flexible 3-4-3 formation.

The functioning of Azzopardi's tactical plan relied heavily on the roaming and interchanging of positions of his forward personnel plus the ability of the wide midfield players to double up as defenders when the team is under pressure.

Six minutes from the start, Muscat was forced into his first significant intervention of the afternoon when pawing away a thunderous shot from William Camenzuli.

Birkirkara were the livelier side early on, forcing Hibs on the backfoot for much of the opening quarter.

On 14 minutes, Muscat prevented his side from falling behind so early in the game when pushing away a dangerous Camenzuli free-kick. As Hibs continued to fumble their way forward, Birkirkara persisted with their direct approach.

Midway through the first half, Barbara sized up a sizzling drive which Muscat diverted away for a corner. Within two minutes, Barbara should have translated Birkirkara's territorial supremacy into a goal but he again found Muscat standing his way.

This glorious 25th minute chance stemmed from a fine George Mallia run. He floated the ball to his unmarked team-mate at the far post but Muscat showed impeccable positioning and reflexes to block Barbara's point-blank effort.

Ten minutes from half-time, Birkirkara's persistence finally produced its deserved reward.

More silky movement and short passes from Birkirkara had reduced the Hibs defenders to chasing figures but after Muscat had again managed to deflect a cross-shot from Barbara, Mallia was on hand to slam the loose ball into an empty net.

Hibs' first noteworthy attempt at goal saw defender Aaron Xuereb driving his effort against the side-netting after a set-piece cross from David Camilleri.

The jovial mood among the Birkirkara fans increased when their team doubled the lead four minutes from half-time. Exploiting to the full the freedom to attack permitted by his central midfield position, Camenzuli powered through to receive Barbara's short pass, skipped past his immediate marker and rifled an angled shot past Muscat.

Three minutes into the second half, Hibs were lucky not to concede a third when Mallia's exquisite volley cannoned off the underside of the crossbar and landed on the goalline before the ball was seized by Muscat.

Gatt showed his dissatisfaction with his team's defensive display by taking off Adrian Pulis in favour of the younger Jonathan Pearson.

In the first half, injury had put an end to Pullicino's participation. His void was filled by Kenneth Spiteri.

Like most of his sluggish team-mates, Williamson had struggled to make an impact but from his first notable progression 10 minutes into the second half, he swung a cross which Terence Scerri headed just wide of the far post.

Dave Simon, the Birkirkara keeper, came out to stop a cross from Andrew Cohen as Hibs finally showed signs of shedding the ineptitude that had blighted their game for much of the preceding 60 minutes.

Yet, Barbara should have extinguished Hibs' lingering hopes of comeback. Chasing a clearance from Camenzuli, he burst past Spiteri and into the box but his piledriver rattled the goal's frame.

As the minutes trickled by, Hibs raised the tempo of their game with Birkirkara mostly concerned with preserving their two-goal lead. Nine minutes from time, the Paolites came close to pulling one back when Camilleri's free-kick spread confusion in the box but Haruna Doda's flick was touched away by Simon.

Birkirkara had the chance to make sure of victory when, with three minutes remaining, they were awarded a penalty for Spiteri's late tackle on Mallia. With Michael Galea having been hauled off in the second half, the onus of taking the 'spot kick' fell on Roderick Briffa but the latter blasted his shot well wide of Muscat's goal.

Stephen Azzopardi: "It was a fantastic performance from my team. We built on the other good showings we had in the last few weeks. We had many chances to score but Muscat made a string of excellent saves and we also missed a penalty."

Robert Gatt: "Birkirkara were the better team and deserved to win. Our match was inadequate and certainly did not justify our status as title pretenders. It is clear that we have to play much better if we are to sustain our challenge. The key players in our team need to deliver."

Birkirkara: D. Simon-6, L. Galea-6, P. Monye-7, W. Camenzuli-7.5, E. Barbara-7.5, M. Galea-6 ('80 M.A. Bonnici), K. Scicluna-7, R. Briffa-6, G. Mallia-8, E. Yanchev-6, A. Ciantar-6 ('86 M. Calascione).

Hibernians: M. Muscat-7.5, A. Pulis-5 ('52 J. Pearson-5.5), A. Xuereb-5.5, D. Williamson-5, E. Mbong-5.5, T. Scerri-5, A. Cohen-5, J. Vella-5, P. Pullicino-5 ('24 K. Spiteri-5), D. Camilleri-5.5, H. Doda-5.

Referee: Adrian Casha.

Scorers: Mallia 35; Camenzuli 41.

Yellow Cards: Yanchev; Camil-leri.

BoV Player of the Match: William Camenzuli (Birkirkara).