Ten-man City stand tall to zoom in on top prize

Birkirkara 0
Valletta 1
Andrade 37;

Valletta had been by far the dominant force of the Premier League in the opening two rounds but the two-tier, points-halved format of our flagship championship is designed to keep the title race open until the closing stages of the season.

That and the Whites’ meagre haul of two points from their opening two Championship Pool games had instilled fresh hope among their rivals as to the prospects of forcing their way back into the race.

Six points off the top with eight games left, Birkirkara came into their third league meeting with Valletta knowing that a win would re-ignite their title bid. Buoyed by the return of Trevor Cilia, they were bright and confident early on but as Valletta grew in composure, the game became more balanced.

Matches are defined by episodes, the old dictum goes, and that looked like being the case yesterday as two incidents in the space of three first-half minutes threatened to turn the game on its head.

After going ahead through Andrade, Valletta were dealt a setback when Jamie Pace was red-carded, giving Birkirkara a massive confidence boost. Inevitably, the Stripes surged forward but Valletta, driven on by captain Gilbert Agius, drew on their renowned resilience to weather the pressure and hold out for victory.

Referee Adrian Azzopardi’s final whistle was met with feelings of relief and jubilation by the City faithful who celebrated long after the match, comforted by the knowledge that this success has taken their team closer to the title.

Suspension deprived Jesmond Zerafa of midfielder Ryan Fenech but the Valletta coach didn’t restrict himself to one change only.

Agius came in for Fenech, An-drade replaced Omonigho Temile, named among the substitutes because of a minor injury, and the returning Pace was preferred to Kevin Sammut.

Defender Kenneth Scicluna, out since last summer with a groin injury, was on the bench.

Shaun Bajada was declared fit to start after an abdominal injury had threatened his participation. The inclusion of Bajada was one of three changes in the Birkirkara team from the one-all draw with Ħamrun as Cilia and Angus Buhagiar were also back in the fray after completing their recovery from injury.

Heartened by Cilia’s form in training, coach Paul Zammit named the pacey winger in his starting formation at the expense of Ibrahim Babatunde. Ryan Scicluna and Karl Pulo made way for Buhagiar and Bajada.

The atmosphere in yesterday’s curtain-raiser between Floriana and Ħamrun was low-key but from the moment stand-in referee Kevin Azzopardi whistled the end of the match, the noise levels inside the stadium increased by several notches.

Giant flags and banners were raised as the two sets of supporters readied themselves for another classic duel.

Just over a minute from the start, Cilia received a long pass but his grounder was blocked by Andrew Hogg, the Valletta goalkeeper.

Moments later, Terrence Scerri delivered a good cross inside the box and Denni unleashed a half-volley that ricocheted off the bar... but the Brazilian was offside.

Cilia’s presence gave Birkirkara more width on the right and Zammit encouraged his team to make good use of their pace on the wings with Emiliano Lattes also very much active on the left.

The only novelty in Zammit’s tactical module was the deployment of Andrei Agius as a holding midfielder, a move probably instigated by the injury-related absence of Rowen Muscat and the need to have a defence-minded player shadowing Denni.

Patrick Borg effected a last-ditch tackle to nudge the ball away from Scerri who was shaping up to shoot. The loose ball dropped at the feet of Edmond Agius who scuffed his shot as the leaders struggled to match the pace of Birkirkara early on.

A swift counter-attack by Bir-kirkara caught the City defence off balance as Cilia swept past Ian Azzopardi and centred for Galea but out came Hogg to snuff out the danger.

Zerafa was forced into an early substitution as Roderick Briffa’s participation was curtailed by a thigh injury. Ramon came on for Briffa and Steve Borg switched to right-back.

On 18 minutes, Birkirkara shouted penalty after Jonathan Caruana appeared to have pushed Agius in the box but referee Adrian Azzopardi saw nothing wrong. His decision infuriated the Birkirkara supporters and officials.

With Agius and Bajada dictating matters from deep and Cilia and Lattes running at Valletta’s flank defenders, Birkirkara were the more menacing side early on.

The Citizens fashioned a glimmer of a chance on 26 minutes when Gilbert Agius’s corner was fisted away by Michael Fraser but the ball flew to Andrade who shot over.

Valletta also had claims for a penalty turned down when Vuka-nac appeared to clip the heels of the sprinting Denni but Azzopardi instead booked the Brazilian for simulation.

As the first half wore on, Valletta began to pose more problems to Birkirkara and broke the stalemate eight minutes from half-time.

Agius was the catalyst as the captain supplied a measured through-pass to Scerri who sped into the box. Fraser managed to get a touch to Scerri’s shot but Andrade slid in to scramble the ball away from the static Borg and over the goal-line.

Cue scenes of wild joy among the City fans but their delight was tempered by the sight of referee Azzo-pardi brandishing the red card to dismiss Pace who pushed Cilia in the face in front of assistant referee Alan Camilleri.

With his team a man to the good, Zammit brought on Babatunde for Borg at the start of the second half. The Nigerian took up a central attacking position, meaning that Birkirkara now attacked with four players.

Ten minutes into the second half, City shouted ‘handsball’ as Denni’s shot appeared to come up Zerafa’s arm but Azzopardi was unmoved.

Pace’s dismissal didn’t undermine Valletta’s resolve as Zerafa’s men tightened up the spaces between the lines, making it difficult for Birkirkara to penetrate.

The Stripes, however, were unfortunate not to level matters on 63 minutes when Galea flicked Lattes’s corner towards the far post where Babatunde’s shot came off the un-derside of the crossbar.

Danger beckoned for Birkirkara when Valletta broke on the counter 20 minutes from time. An-drade burst through Birkirkara’s defence but Agius made a fine tackle to take the sting out of the Brazilian’s shot.

Birkirkara survived another scare when Temile raced into the box but his diagonal shot was touched away for a corner by Fraser.

Ten minutes from time, Hogg rescued Valletta with a fine save to keep out Paul Fenech’s humdinger.

Ramon also did well to put his body in the way of Andrew Decesare’s strike after the latter had been served by Karl Pulo.

Tension gripped both teams as the match entered its final minutes.

Birkirkara intensified their pressure but Valletta refused to buckle. On a couple of occasions, the white-shirted players broke on the counter but were foiled by Agius, a towering figure for the Stripes, yesterday.

Deep into stoppage time, Denni found a way through but dragged his shot wide with only the keeper to beat.

Birkirkara
M. Fraser-6.5, E. Lattes-6, S. Bajada-5.5, N. Vukanac-5.5, P. Borg-5 (46 I. Babatunde-5), P. Fenech-6, J. Zerafa-5 (60 A. Decesare-5.5) A. Agius-8, A. Buhagiar-6, M. Galea-6, T. Cilia-6.5 (75 K. Pulo).

Valletta
Hogg-7.5, R. Briffa (16 Ramon-7), J. Caruana-7.5, I. Azzopardi-6.5, S. Borg-7, G. Agius-8.5 (85 K. Sammut), J. Pace, E. Agius-6.5, Andrade-6.5, Denni-6.5, T. Scerri-6.5 (69 O. Temile-6.5).

Referee: Adrian Azzopardi.

Yellow cards: A. Agius; Denni; Zerafa; S. Borg; G. Agius; Bajada.

Red card: Pace (V) 40.

BOV player of the match: Gilbert Agius (Valletta).

Attendance: 3,618.