Zammit heartened by Stripes' showing

Paul Zammit has felt mixed emotions about Birkirkara's elimination from the 2009-10 Europa League.

A 1-0 aggregate defeat at the hands of Slaven Belupo was hard to fathom for the Stripes but Zammit was still satisfied with his charges. Looking back at Thursday's second leg, the new Birkirkara coach reflected on what could have been had his depleted side taken some of the chances that fell their way at the Centenary Stadium.

"Overall, I am happy with the way the team has performed against Slaven Belupo," Zammit told The Times.

"I only started coaching this team last month but the players have shown great attitude and application to my tactical work and that was reflected in our showing over the two legs. We neutralized Slaven's main threats and, in my opinion, also created enough chances to turn the tie in our favour.

"Unfortunately, we failed to get the goal we craved for but that takes away nothing from the players' efforts. We had some youngsters making their European debut and that was something positive for this club. This experience should be an ideal launching pad for them this season."

Birkirkara were one of three Maltese teams in UEFA club competitions this month.

Valletta, Zammit's former club, stole the headlines when they eased past Keflavik, also in the Europa League, but Hibs lost 6-0 on aggregate to FK Mogren in the first qualifying round of the Champions League.

"I think Maltese teams have done pretty well so far," Zammit said.

"Valletta's qualification is a great achievement for Maltese football in general. Jordi Cruyff and Geert den Ouden have turned the team into a very strong outfit and I fancy their chances against St Patrick's the second qualifying round.

"Hibs were eliminated but the aggregate score does not really give a true picture of the two matches. Hibs played positive football home and away but paid dearly for some defensive lapses."

Turning his sights on the new season, Zammit said Birkirkara will now try to bring in new reinforcements.

At the moment, they have Serbian defender Nicola Vucanac on trial. He will be joined by two goalkeepers, one from Italy and another from Hungary, who are expected to arrive in the coming days.

"In the next fortnight I hope to finalise the squad for the new season. We have no plans of bringing many new faces but just two or three will do to make the squad more competitive," he said.

"We have a long and hard campaign coming up but I'm confident that this team can harbour serious ambitions for the main honours."