[attach id=242694 size="medium"]Birkirkara’s Gareth Sciberras boots the ball away from Valletta striker Michael Mifsud. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli[/attach]

Optimism is sky-high in the Birkirkara clan after their vibrant performance in Sunday’s title showdown with Valletta was rewarded with a 2-0 victory and a four-point lead over the champions at the top.

With Valletta in a state of disarray after back-to-back defeats for the first time in the last three years, Birkirkara have earned the right to be considered as the leading contenders for the championship.

An early goal from Jhonnattann, formerly of Valletta, laid the platform for the Stripes’ success which was sealed late in the second half when Rowen Muscat made it 2-0 after another swift breakaway had the City defenders on the backfoot.

Although delighted with his team’s display, Birkirkara coach Paul Zammit is keen to put the lid on the soaring expectations about his side’s title chances.

“When you’re playing against a team with so much quality, you have to gauge your potential against theirs if you have aspi-rations of challenging for the title,” Zammit told The Times.

“I’m pleased with my players. It’s thanks to their efforts that we’ve come this far.

“This win could mean a lot but it could also mean nothing. It’s up to us to make it count. We have six games left and it’s not going to be easy.

“This championship has been so inconsistent but consistency is now a must. We can take a lot of satisfaction from what we’ve done so far but we need to remain fully focused and keep our feet grounded.”

The overriding view after Sunday’s game was that Birkirkara’s tactical discipline and determi-nation were key to their success.

“You can’t have tactical discipline if the players are not ready to give their all,” Zammit said.

“We had certain players who were assigned specific duties but the result would not have been the same if they failed to put in a great effort.

“A coach is not a magician. It’s all down to how the players perform on the pitch. We were well-prepared for this challenge but then there are defining episodes in every game.

“The first goal helped but in the next 20 minutes, I wasn’t really satisfied with the way my team reacted.

“It wasn’t down to a lack of com-mitment but I thought my players became too emotional. At half-time, I tried to calm them down, urging them to concentrate on the game.

“We knew that Valletta would come out strongly. They have all the attributes to get a goal but we stayed compact and pressed for the second goal to close the game.”

Much has been made of the fact that Birkirkara are now four points clear of Valletta, who until the weekend were still regarded as the leading candidates for the title, but Zammit reiterated his view that the unpredictability of this season’s championship means that there could be more twists and turns in the title race.

Hibs’ threat

Zammit said: “At this moment, Hibs are our closest rivals as they are only two points behind us.

“With all respect to Mosta, the other five teams are so balanced that things can change significantly in one weekend. It’s very tight... an open race really as there are 18 points at stake.”

Zammit was reluctant to comment on Valletta’s faltering form but warned against writing them off.

“All big clubs can come out of certain difficult situations,” Zammit contended.

“We’ve been through a bad spell ourselves. I mean going out of the FA Trophy after losing to Qormi was a setback but we took it in our stride and moved on.

“I believe that the leading teams will continue to battle for the title until the end.”

Statistics

Scorers, red cards

Balzan FC – Elton 14 (4 pens); Ped-rinho 8 (1 pen); N’Dekre 4; Conceicao 3, Caruana 3, Darmanin 3; Licari 2; Mendy, Deanov, Pace, Forace, Camilleri.
Red cards: Conceicao (vs Ħamrun, vs Valletta), Licari (vs Hibs), Pace (vs Sliema), Forace (vs Mosta), Camilleri (vs Rabat), Mendy (vs Hibs).

Birkirkara – Jhonnattann 13 (1 pen); Mifsud Triganza 9; Haruna 7 (2 pens); Vukanac 6; R. Muscat 4, Joselito 4; Herrera 3, Camenzuli 3; Sciberras 2, Fenech 2; Z. Muscat, Scicluna, Pereira, Zerafa.
Red cards: Scicluna (vs Balzan), Fenech (vs Ħamrun), Herrera (vs Qormi), Haruna (vs Sliema).

Floriana – Coronado 10; Darmanin 8 (now Balzan); Wasiu 4, Verma 4; Cilia 2; Alhinho, Brown, Jeffers, Spiteri, Bugeja, Nwoko.
Red cards: Brown (vs Rabat), K. Farrugia (vs Mosta, vs Rabat), Alhinho (vs Hibs).

Ħamrun – Grima 5 (3 pens), Vella 5; Lumbilla 3, Calabretta 3; Camilleri 2 (1 pen); Scerri, Bozhov, Zerafa, Spiteri, Yoshev, Lattes, Fenech, Borg.
Own goal: Gribbon (vs Melita).
Red cards: Fenech (vs Floriana, vs Balzan), Cassar (vs Tarxien), Vitanov (vs Sliema), Cassar (vs Qormi), Borg (vs Qormi).

Hibernians – Failla 8 (1 pen), Lima 8 (2 pens); Cohen 7; Farrugia 5; Pulis 3, Ribeiro 3, Dias 3; Tarabai 2, Soares 2; Pisani, Levnaic, Nwoba, Kristensen, Camilleri, Bezzina, Kardeck.
Own goals: Guga (vs Ħamrun), Giglio (vs Balzan).
Red cards: Muscat (vs Balzan), Dias (vs Balzan), Pulis (vs Tarxien, vs Mosta), Nwoko (vs Melita), Dias (vs Birkirkara), Soares (vs Valletta).

Melita – Armario Negrin 5 (now Rabat); L. Micallef 4; Galea 3; Cabanillas 2, Tufegdzic 2; Vukanic (pen), Sammut, Sierra Camacho, Borg Olivier.
Own goal: Pace (vs Balzan).
Red cards: Vukanic (vs Valletta), Sierra Camacho (vs Tarxien), Valenzia (vs Valletta), Sammut (vs Balzan), Caruana Scicluna (vs Mosta), Vella Petroni (vs Qormi).

Mosta – Obiefule 11 (1 pen); Mitev 10; Bogdanovic 5 (1 pen); Apap 3; Aboulezz 2, Zongo 2 (1 pen), Campagnoli 2; Bajada, Chiemeka, Maia Dos Santos, Mbonu, Micallef.
Own goal: Bello-Osagie (vs Qormi).
Red cards: Grech (vs Sliema), Aboulezz (vs Floriana), Dimech (vs Balzan).

Qormi – Bello-Osagie (now Valletta) 8; Effiong 5; Chetcuti 4, Pisani 4, Zarate 4; Spiteri 3, Siritto 3, Avila-Perez 3; Thackray 2, Grech 2; Sciberras, Cassar.
Own goal: Tufegdzic (vs Melita).
Red card: Bondin (vs Rabat).

Rabat – Armario Negrin 8 (3 pens); Fuster 3; Astrauskas 2, Felice 2 (1 pen), Licari 2; Smeir, Carapic, Borg, Cauchi, Azzopardi.
Red cards: Borg (vs Floriana), Brincat (vs Sliema Wanderers).

Sliema – Woods 10 (3 pens); Muchardi 6; Faccini 4; Ruggiero 3, Ciantar 3; A. Muscat 2; El Ghaouti, Barbetti, Timotic, Gatt Baldacchino, Laudisi, Mifsud, Martinelli, Ohawuchi, Zammit.
Red cards: Scerri (vs Floriana), Bonello (vs Floriana), Martinelli (vs Hibs).

Tarxien – Bueno 16 (2 pens); Danilo 8; Andrezinho 6; Evaldo 5; Anonam 2; Tanti 2, Leandro 2; Pulo, Bonnici, Bajada, Tulio.
Red cards: Danilo (vs Sliema), Evaldo (vs Birkirkara), Andrezinho (vs Hibs), Caruana (vs Sliema).

Valletta – Mifsud 16 (2 pens); Denni 6; Gabriel 5, Fenech 5; Toure 4, Barbosa 4 (1 pen); Caruana 3; Leandro 2, Briffa 2, Zammit 2 (1 pen); Ricardo, Borg, Ogunnuppe, Vandelannoite, Dimech, Bello-Osagie.
Own goal: Tufegdzic (vs Melita).

Next fixtures

Saturday, March 30
National Stadium: 14.00 Tarxien Rain-bows vs Birkirkara; 16.00 Hibernians vs Valletta.

Monday, April 1
Tedesco Stadium: 18.00 Rabat Ajax vs Balzan; 20.15 Melita vs Ħamrun.

Tuesday, April 2
Hibs Stadium: 18.00 Qormi vs Floriana; 20.00 Mosta vs Sliema.

Standings

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Birkirkara	26	15	7	4	57	21	31
Hibernians	26	16	3	7	53	28	29
Valletta	26	14	8	4	56	20	27
Sliema	26	13	6	7	37	22	27
Tarxien	26	13	6	7	45	37	26
Mosta	26	11	1	14	41	51	17
Qormi	26	11	4	11	41	40	22
Floriana	26	8	10	8	34	34	22
Balzan	26	8	9	9	42	42	20
Ħamrun	26	5	4	17	27	67	11
Rabat	26	2	9	15	22	52	10
Melita	26	3	7	16	21	62	9