BIRKIRKARA-1, HIBERNIANS-0
A late goal by Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza gave Birkirkara a 1-0 over Hibs.
A generally dull match looked set to finish goalless but Mifsud Triganza, a second-half substitute, broke the stalemate with a fine goal which helped Birkirkara to return to winning ways after their 3-1 defeat to Hamrun Spartans.
The win also saw Birkirkara narrow the gap on leaders Valletta to four points while Hibs failed to win for the fourth consecutive game.
The first half failed to live up to expectations as scoring chances were rare.
Hibs created their first chance after 11 minutes when Jackson Lima's corner was met by Bjorn Kristensen whose header was blocked by the Birkirkara defenders.
Jean Paul Farrugia, the Hibs forward, was wide with a grounder from the edge of the box while Jhonnattann's free-kick for Birkirkara was off target.
Goalscoring chances were proving hard to come by though. Towards the end of the first half, Jhonnattann's angled shot came off the side-netting and midfielder Gareth Sciberras squandered a good opportunity when applying too much power to his pass after he had made a dashing run into the Hibs box.
Inside the opening two minutes of the second half, Farrugia flicked wide from an inviting position after Jackson Lima had headed Marcelo Dias's pass into the Malta U-21 striker's path.
Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza, who had just come on for the injured Shola Shodiya Haruna, hit a low strike which was blocked by Hibs goalkeeper Daniel Balzan, who was preferred to Mario Muscat.
As in the first half, the second period was dull for long spells with both teams having problems to create openings.
Thirteen minutes from time, Reuben Gauci, the Birkirkara goalkeeper, came off with a hand injury. His replacement, Ini Aktpan, pushed away Clayton Failla's cross from a free-kick and also blocked Andrew Cohen's ensuing effort.
Two minutes from time, Birkirkara scored. Joseph Zerafa ran through on the left before picking out Mifsud Triganza who beat Balzan with a curling drive.
The late arrival of Birkirkara's goal left Hibs facing an uphill struggle. Coach Michael Woods introduced another striker, Anderson Ribeiro, in a bid to boost his team's attack.
John Nwoba, who had come for Pisani, went close with a shot from the distance which flew over.
Hibs winger Dias was voted BOV player of the match.