Birkirkara 3, Hibs - 1

Three goals in the opening 45 minutes put Birkirkara on their way to a 3-1 comfortable victory over beleauguered Hibernians at the National Stadium this afternoon.

Paul Fenech was the absolute protagonist for the Malta champions with two fine strikes in the space of 12 first-half minutes.

In fact Fenech took the limelight on 13 minutes when he son possession in midfield before serving the ball to Michael Galea. The Birkirkara forward quickly returned the ball to his team-mate who fired a low drive that rolled past Hibs goalkeeper Mario Muscat.

The goal boosted the Stripes who struck again on 25 minutes. Shaun Bajada’s long ball was controlled by Lattes who quickly set up Fenech who unleashed a rising shot that hflew into the top corner.

The Paolites were clearly stunned and their misery was further compounded on 29 minutes when Thomas Paris long through ball saw Lattes anticipate Matthew Gauci before firing the ball pat Muscat.

After the interval Hibs tried to get back in the reckoning but they only managed to pull a goal back on 83 minutes when Andrew Cohen released substitute Steve Pisani who beat Michael Fraser with a low shot.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.