Pietà Hotspurs 4
Micallef 7; Agius 52; Pisani 78 pen; Frances 84;
Birkirkara 3
Ellinton 23, 41; Ledesma 57 pen;
Birkirkara’s title aspirations suffered another blow yesterday as they crashed to a second successive league defeat when they were beaten by Pietà Hotspurs in a seven-goal thriller.
It was a deserved victory for the Hotspurs who produced a battling display and gave as much they got against their more-quoted opponents.
Birkirkara looked to have done enough to earn all three points after taking a 3-2 lead midway through the second half.
But the Hotspurs refused to buckle and, inspired by the powerful running of Jurgen Pisani and Daniel Frances, they scored two goals late on to return home with three vital points that lifted them outside the drop zone.
Paul Zammit, the Birkirkara coach, made four changes to the team that conceded a 2-1 defeat to Floriana before the international break. Skipper Gareth Sciberras made his first league start of the season as he replaced the suspended Ryan Scicluna.
Defender Nikola Vukanac came on for Alejandro Mendoza while Leighton Grech was preferred to Edward Herrera. Rafael Ledesma was back from a ban but Edmond Agius was among the subs.
Miguel Montfort was handed a rare start in the Pietà goal ahead of David Cassar while Nikola Tasic was preferred to Frances. Luke Micallef started upfront while Gabriel took his place on the bench.
Ellinton had two fine opportunities to put the Stripes ahead early on.
On four minutes, Montfort failed to hold on to Zach Muscat’s cross with the ball falling into the feet of Ellinton who hit his shot over from close in.
A minute later, Ledesma’s free-kick was not cleared but Ellinton again fired over.
Birkirkara were made to pay for these misses as Pietà struck on seven minutes.
From a quick break, Kyle Cesare picked Luke Micallef inside the area and the former Melita forward headed past Justin Haber from close in.
The Stripes were stunned but soon launched a series of raids on the Pietà fort and on 23 minutes the scores became even. Ledes-ma’s corner was met by Ellinton who headed in the equaliser.
Birkirkara kept up the pressure and scored a second goal four minutes from the break.
Again, the Ledesma-Ellinton partnership made the trick for them. Ledesma picked his partner in attack with a calibrated pass and Ellinton sent a downward header flying past Montfort.
Coleiro effected his first change when he withdrew Rafael Xavier and introduced Frances as he looked for more penetration from his team.
And Pietà started the second half on attack.
On 49 minutes Micallef surged into the opponents’ box and hit a rasping drive that Haber could not hold with the loose ball falling to Kyle Cesare but the U-21 midfielder was denied by the retracting Birkirkara goalkeeper.
But the Hotspurs were not to be denied. Three minutes later Terrence Agius hit a blistering shot from 20 metres out that flew into the top corner of the net with Haber beaten.
However, Pietà’s joy was short-lived as a few minutes later Paul Fenech was upended in the area by Cain Attard and the referee immediately pointed to the spot. Ledesma kept his cool to drill the penalty past Montfort.
Some might have thought that Pietà were now dead and buried but that was not the case.
In fact, 12 minutes from time Haber was adjudged to have fouled Tasic in his attempt to clear a ball inside his box and a second penalty was given. Jurgen Pisani stepped up to send Haber the wrong way and make it 3-3.
However, that was not the end of the story yet as six minutes from time Pisani picked Frances on the edge of the Birkirkara box and the Argentine striker’s curling drive flew into the net for a stunning winner.
Pietà Hotspurs
M. Montfort-6, C. Attard-6.5, L. Fortunato-6, C. Grech-6.5, T. Agius-6.5 (80 Gabriel), N. Tasic-6.5, R. Rodrigues-6.5, K. Cesare-6.5 (90 D. Agius), L. Micallef-7, R. Xavier-5 (41 D. Frances-7), J. Pisani-7.5.
Birkirkara
J. Haber-4, M. Bissi-5, S. Shodiya Haruna-5 (61 E. Agius-5), Ellinton-6.5, R. Ledesma-6, N. Vukanac-5, G. Sciberras-6 (83 V. Shevchenko), Z. Muscat-5, P. Fenech-6, L. Grech-5 (79 E. Herrera), R. Camenzuli-5.
Referee: Sandro Spiteri.
Yellow cards: Bissi, Agius, Gabriel.
BOV player of the match: Ellinton (Birkirkara).