Stripes push for Euro berth

Msida SJ 1
Birkirkara 3

Birkirkara's renaissance under the guidance of new coach John Buttigieg continued yesterday with a battling display against Msida St Joseph in an action-packed encounter at the National Stadium.

Two goals from skipper Michael Galea and a debatable Etienne Barbara penalty earned Birkirkara their second successive victory under the new management but, more importantly, the three points lifted them to third place in the standings, level with Valletta and back in the reckoning for qualification to European football next season.

It was a merited success for Birkirkara who now seem to have put behind them the negative patch of form which saw them slipping out of the top positions. Yesterday they tamed Msida with an efficient performance based on solid defending and more direct play in attack.

On their part, Msida have seen their hopes of a top-three berth suffer a blow after this defeat, the second in the space of four days.

The Saints may rue the referee's decision to award Birkirkara a penalty just past the half hour when he judged that Pio Sciriha had handled the ball in the area. From the stands it seemed that the Msida player had deflected the ball with his chest.

But, all in all, Msida's performance left much to be desired as they lacked ideas when pushing forward and relied too heavily on their African trio of Ibrahim Babatunde, Ousseni Zongo and Daniel Nwoke. All three were tightly marked by the Stripes.

Babatunde and Zongo were back in the Msida XI after missing Wednesday's 2-0 defeat to Marsaxlokk. Sciriha came on for the suspended Stacey Vella while Tyrone Farrugia shrugged off a niggling injury to take his place in defence.

Birkirkara effected only one change from the team that beat Sliema 2-1 last week. Lino Galea failed to recover from a hamstring injury and Roderick Sammut was given the onus of patrolling the right-back position.

After two clear defeats at the hands of the Saints this season, Birkirkara were determined to take some revenge on their opponents.

Barbara came close to giving them the ideal start after nine minutes when he received a pass from Adrian Ciantar but his fierce volley came off the upright.

Two minutes later it was the turn of Michael Galea to test Msida's Omar Borg but his angled shot was stopped by the Saints keeper.

The Stripes' early ascendancy was clearly causing uneasiness in the Msida defence and it was no surprise when on 18 minutes Birkirkara took the lead.

They won a corner from the left, Ciantar crossed the ball onto the far post where Roderick Briffa nodded into the path of Galea who flicked home past Borg.

Birkirkara kept up the pressure and on 20 minutes Barbara sped into the Msida penalty area, rounded Borg but was muscled out of possession by a timely challenge from Josef Mifsud.

Msida's response arrived on 23 minutes when Zongo dribbled past Briffa before laying the ball into Nwoke's path who fired over from close distance.

On 32 minutes, Birkirkara doubled their advantage in controversial circumstances when Sciriha was judged to have handled the ball in his own box.

The Msida players were furious but the referee stuck by his decision and the penalty decision stood. Barbara coolly fired the ball past Borg to make it 2-0.

The issue was far from settled though as Msida pulled a goal back on 38 minutes. Babatunde sent an inviting ball to the far post where Nwoke sneaked in to tap home past a surprised Bledzewski.

The entertaining fare was maintained at the start of the second half and on 49 minutes Zongo was at the end of another fine delivery from Babatunde but the Burkina Faso midfielder was thwarted by Bledzewski.

Two minutes later, the Stripes were close to a third goal when Briffa released Mallia with a perfect throughball but shot over the bar with only Borg to beat.

On 63 minutes, Borg kept Msida in contention with an excellent reflex save on Galea and a minute later he was alert again to hold out Camenzuli's effort.

At the other end, Nwoke beat his marker but headed just over.

As the match entered its final 15 minutes, Msida were trying hard to score an equaliser. However, all their efforts were neutralised by Birkirkara's solid play at the back.

The Stripes were dangerous on the counter break and substitute Dario Larrosa almost put his name on the scoresheet but his volley was parried by Msida's Borg.

But two minutes from time Buttigieg's men sealed the match with a gem of a goal from Galea. He won the ball on the right, just outside the area. Sensing that Borg was a few metres out of goal, he calibrated an inswinger that surprised the Msida goalkeeper with the ball flying into the top corner of the net.

Msida: O. Borg-6.5, P. Sciriha-6, S. Grima-6 ('81 A. Farrugia), J. Mifsud-6, T. Farrugia-6, D. Cachia-5.5, S. Bajada-5.5 ('65 R. Baldacchino-5), P. Fenech-6.5, I. Babatunde-5.5, D. Nwoke-6, O. Zongo-6.

Birkirkara: A. Bledzewski-6, M.A. Bonnici-7, P. Monye-6.5, R. Sammut-6, W. Camenzuli-6.5 ('89 P. Zerafa), E. Barbara-7 ('81 J.P. Mifsud Triganza) M. Galea-7.5, R. Briffa-7, K. Scicluna-7, G. Mallia-6.5, A. Ciantar-6 ('78 D. Larrosa).

Referee: Paul Caruana.

Scorers: Galea 18, 88; Barbara 32 pen; Nwoke 38.

Yellow Cards: Bajada, Grima, Fenech, Mallia, Cachia.

BoV Player of the Match: Etienne Barbara (Birkirkara).