Stripes' stroll lifts Camenzuli's mood

Birkirkara 5
Msida St Joseph 0

Birkirkara's first competitive outing in four weeks ought to have been the main theme of the weekend's opening match.

Stephen Azzopardi's troops did more than was expected of them, dismantling Msida St Joseph to the tune of 5-0 but their resounding win was not the chief talking point yesterday.

The gazes of most of the people at the National Stadium were fixed on one Birkirkara player, precisely William Camenzuli.

Camenzuli's contribution on the day had more significance than usual after his adeptness to represent Malta at international level was dismissed by national coach Dusan Fitzel in the aftermath of Wednesday's 2-0 upset to Georgia.

Fitzel's comment will surely have hurt Camenzuli but to his credit, the Birkirkara player responded with a typically solid display to help his team ensure another week at the top of the Premier League.

With a full complement at his disposal, Azzopardi had no choice but to exclude some high-profile players from his starting XI.

Defender Kenneth Scicluna, a member of Malta's squad for the International Football Tournament, Lino Galea, Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza and Jonathan Holland had to content themselves with a place on the subs' bench.

Todor Raykov did not have such luxury as suspensions deprived him of the services of dynamic midfielder Paul Fenech and defender Josef Mifsud.

Shouts of 'ejja Willie' (come on Willie) greeted the start of the match in a show of support from Birkirkara fans towards Camenzuli.

Barely two minutes into the game, Michael Galea controlled a floating pass close to the edge of the area but his dipping effort sailed over the bar.

Four minutes later, Birkirkara nosed ahead. Malta midfielder George Mallia stimulated the move by lofting the ball towards the surging Galea through the centre. Omar Borg, the Msida goalkeeper, sprinted out of goal and looked to have cut out the danger but the ball ricocheted off his body and into the path of the Birkirkara skipper who rolled the ball into the unguarded net.

A couple of dubious offside decisions by assistant referee Philip Agius did not go down well with the Stripes' faithful but their frustration soon gave way to joy when Barbara doubled their lead. The scoreboard marked 15 minutes of play when Adrian Ciantar put over a teasing cross from a corner, Barbara's initial attempt was blocked but he was on hand to blast the loose ball home.

Galea might have increased his significant lead at the top of the scoring charts when Ciantar picked him out at the far post but his attempt was wide.

Msida's uphill task to creep back in contention suffered another blow on 25 minutes when Nigerian forward Ibrahim Babatunde had to leave the field because of injury. Maltese-Australian Shane Tagliaferro entered the fray to replace Babatunde.

Roderick Briffa, a quick-moving, versatile player at the heart of Birkirkara's flexible 4-4-2 formation, should have tripled his side's lead when Barbara's cross found him unmarked at the far post. The Birkirkara midfielder opted to strike the ball first time but his scrambled effort whizzed across the face of goal.

Five minutes from the end of the first half, Camenzuli was wide with a low free-kick but the game was well and truly over as a contest a minute from half-time.

Fastening onto another teasing ball from Briffa, Galea veered to his right to evade the on-rushing Borg before shooting towards goal. His effort seemed destined to hit the back of the net even before Ciantar slid in to apply the final touch.

Within a minute, Birkirkara had increased their lead, Galea ramming the loose ball home after Borg parried Camenzuli's rasping drive.

The interval could not come soon enough for Msida who had been reduced to chasing figures for much of the first 45 minutes. Before Adrian Casha's half-time whistle, Barbara hit the post with a header.

The first setback in an otherwise perfect afternoon for Birkirkara came in the shape of a back injury to Galea. The Stripes' skipper was withdrawn six minutes into the second half in favour of Mifsud Triganza.

At half-time, Azzopardi also drafted in Holland for centre-half Emil Yanchev and effected a spate of positional changes. Mark Anthony Bonnici returned to his familiar station at right-back after being initially deployed on the left.

With Galea out of the fray, the captain's armband was passed on to Camenzuli who continued to anchor the midfield with much ease against the clueless Msida.

The first time Msida posed a hint of danger to the Birkirkara rearguard occurred 18 minutes from time when Zongo, the Reds' liveliest player, made a powerful diagonal run and his cross-shot was deflected by Bonnici into the hands of Simon.

Nine minutes from the end of normal time, Briffa made it 5-0 with a sweetly-struck drive from outside the penalty area that gave Msida's substitute goalie Manuel Bartolo no chance.

In the dying moments, Msida were awarded a penalty after Simon barged into the probing Tyrone Farrugia but the Czech keeper redeemed himself by touching Zongo's shot around the post.

Birkirkara went through the last five minutes of the game with 10 men after Ciantar suffered a knee injury with Azzopardi having already used his three substitutions.

Birkirkara: D. Simon-6, M.A. Bonnici-6, P. Monye-7, R. Sammut-6, W. Camenzuli-7, E. Barbara-7 ('65 M. Calascione-6), M. Galea-7 ('51 J. Mifsud Triganza-6), R. Briffa-7, G. Mallia-7.5, E. Yanchev-6 ('46 J. Holland-6), A. Ciantar-7.

Msida: O. Borg-4 ('73 M. Bartolo), D. Theuma-6, S. Grima-4, C. Micallef-4 ('57 D. Gatt-4), T. Farrugia-6, C. Sciberras-4, D. Cachia-4, L. Micallef-5, I. Babatunde-5 ('25 S. Tagliaferro-4), D. Nwoke-4, O. Zongo-6.

Referee: Adrian Casha.

Scorers: Galea 6, 45; Barbara 15; Ciantar 44; Briffa 81.

Yellow Card: Theuma.

Bov Player Of The Match: Adrian Ciantar (Birkirkara).