Stripes joint leaders

Dingli Swallows 1
Tabone 37 og
Birkirkara 3
Galea 28, 40; Fenech 68

Michael Galea was at his clinical best last night as Birkirkara chalked up their third consecutive win to move joint top of the Premier League with Valletta who have a game in hand.

Galea showed poaching skills to slot in the opener before a freak own goal by Alan Tabone levelled matters for Dingli.

Galea then headed home a clever Trevor Cilia lob to put his team back in the driving seat before Paul Fenech completed the formalities.

Though conceding a third defeat, Dingli were committed and had their moments in an open first half. But any hope of a comeback was definitely dashed when Fenech scored the third goal.

After just three minutes, Galea gave away possession cheaply, but Jeremy Agius, put through by Joseph Okonkwo lost his balance and the chance went missing.

A few minutes later, Okonkwo was foiled by Stripes keeper Omar Borg, blocking at the Nigerian's feet as he advanced inside the box.

Although Dingli showed plenty of purpose, Birkirkara had a more controlled approach as they tried to keep their opponents at arm's length, hoping their extra quality would provide the breakthrough.

The strategy paid off immediately. Victor Fiteni cleared Comvalius's attempt off the line before Galea pounced on the rebound to drive the ball into the net on 28 minutes.

The goal gave the Stripes renewed belief and every time they pushed inside the Dingli half, their opponents' fragile defence gave them cause for optimism.

However, a poor decision at the heart of the Birkirkara defence threw away the advantage as a Tabone own goal gifted Dingli the equaliseron 37 minutes.

But Birkirkara were swiftly back in front when Cilia clipped a ball over Farrugia before Galea made sure by heading inside an empty net.

The goal appeared to knock the stuffing out of the Swallows and much of the second half was dictated by Birkirkara playmakers Fenech, George Mallia and Shawn Bajada.

Dingli's biggest threat always looked like coming from Okonkwo and so it proved when he latched on to a pass by Muscat but the Stripes rearguard was quick to avert danger.

Still, Birkirkara were a constant force in attack, and after Galea had seen his goal-bound flick stopped by Farrugia, Fenech scored a deserved first goal of the season.

His fierce 20-metre drive took a deflection that left Farrugia with no chance on 68 minutes.

It was no more than Birkirkara deserved, and all that remained to see was whether Galea could grab his hat-trick.

However, the Birkirkara skipper was denied by the alert Farrugia on 82 minutes when he saved with his foot with Galea clean through.

Dingli Swallows
J. Farrugia-6.5, R. Briffa-6 (78' D. Zarb), R. Garcia Conceicao-5, S. Tellus-5, R. Spiteri-6, K. Formosa-5, V. Fiteni-5, C. Muscat-6, J. Agius-6 (59' E. Farrugia-5), A. Rocha da Silva-5 (30' Doda-5), J. Okonkwo-6.

Birkirkara
O. Borg-6, N. Vukanac-6 (86' A. Scicluna), B. Nisevic-6, J. Zerafa-6, A. Tabone-5 (59' Paris-5), P. Fenech-7, T. Cilia-6.5, S. Bajada-6, S. Comvalius-6 (80' R. Muscat), G. Mallia-6, M. Galea-7.5.

Referee: Kevin Azzopardi.

Yellow card: Tabone.

BoV player of the match: Michael Galea (Birkirkara).