Birkirkara coach Paul Zammit is not reading much into his team’s positive head-to-head record against Hibs this season ahead of their title decider at the National Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 6pm).

The Stripes have won two of their previous four matches against Hibs with the other two ending in a draw but Zammit told timesofmalta.com that past results will have no bearing on Saturday’s title duel.

“I don’t agree that past results have any significance vis-a-vis the title decider,” Zammit said.

For his part, Hibs coach Michael Woods believes that his team are better equipped to compete with the likes of Birkirkara after the arrival of Luis Edison and Obinna Obiefule in January.

“At the start of the season, I thought we were behind Valletta and Birkirkara but we have strengthened our squad significantly in January,” Woods said.

Mario Muscat, the Hibs captain, regards Saturday’s title decider as the most important game of his career while Gareth Sciberras, his Birkirkara counterpart, insists that the ups and downs of the past few weeks has increased the unity and determination of their squad.

Birkirkara and Hibs set up a title decider after finishing the season level at the top with 45 points. The last decider for the top honour in Maltese football goes back to season 1971-72 when Sliema Wanderers beat Old Firm rivals Floriana 2-0.

Meanwhile, Mark Attard, the Malta FA media officer, announced this morning that the enclosure tickets allocated to Birkirkara and Hibs for Saturday’s clash were snapped up in a matter of hours yesterday.