Qormi 1
Nilsson 86;
Birkirkara 2
Plut 28; Miccoli 42 pen.;

The prospect of facing a wall of Qormi players will not have thrilled Birkirkara coach Giovanni Tedesco, what with the Stripes desperate for a victory after dropping two points in a 1-1 draw with Mosta.

Having frustrated Sliema Wanderers in their last outing, Qormi adopted the same tactics but this time their strategy failed to pay dividends as Birkirkara prevailed, albeit by the slimmest of margins.

While Tedesco will have been relieved by his team’s victory, Birkirkara were hardly convincing.

They did control possession for long spells but, for the umpteenth time, they laboured to make their supremacy count.

Too predictable going forward, the Stripes were also somewhat hesitant at the back, a flaw that almost cost them as they gifted Qormi a goal, setting up a tense finale in the process but it was a case of too little too late for Jesmond Zerafa’s battling troops.

Deprived of his two first-choice centre-backs in Nikola Vukanac (injured) and Mauricio Mazzetti (suspended), Tedesco deployed Emerson Marcelina alongside Zach Muscat at the heart of defence with Cain Attard starting at right-back.

Tedesco went with 4-3-3 with Fabrizio Miccoli starting on the left of central striker Vito Plut with Liliu on the right.

Prudence was the name of the game for Zerafa who tried to park the proverbial bus by putting five at the back with Swedish striker Alex Nilsson alone up front.

Inside the opening two minutes, Miccoli put in a dangerous cross from the right but Zach Muscat’s header was high.

The Stripes seized the initiative from the outset. Miccoli hit wide from outside the box.

Birkirkara were toiling to translate their possession into scoring chances as Qormi stuck grimly to their cautious gameplan.

Paul Fenech’s low strike ended just wide but, two minutes short of the half-hour, Birkirkara scored.

Overlapping on the right, Attard arrowed a low cross into the box, Liliu’s flick wrong-footed Andreas Vella and Plut stabbed home.

Birkirkara remained in command but had to wait until five minutes from half-time to carve out another scoring opportunity.

A neat one-two between Miccoli and Plut prised open the Qormi rearguard as the Italian strode into the box to receive the return pass but his drive was blocked by Vella.

Qormi were reprieved but not for long. Four minutes from half-time, Gareth Sciberras directed a through-ball to Miccoli who drifted wide before hitting a cross-shot that came off the hands of Kurt Magro.

After a short pause, Welsh referee Iwan Griffith ordered a penalty and Miccoli dispatched his shot past the diving Vella.

At the start of the second half, Zerafa brought on Terence Vella for the ineffective Ryan Micallef.

Qormi had a glorious chance to reopen the issue when Nilsson outfoxed Zach Muscat but the Swede rifled wide from inside the box.

At last, Qormi began to offer something going forward.

Sidibe headed over from Carlo Monti’s corner on 54 minutes.

A powerful run by Monti saw him drift into the box from the right but his cross found no takers.

Miccoli was then denied by Vella as the young Qormi goalkeeper leapt to his right to smother away the Italian’s thunderous shot.

An uneventful game remained just that as the minutes passed with Birkirkara retaining the upperhand.

With nine minutes remaining, Edmond Agius’s corner from the right reached Liliu but the Brazilian skied his effort.

The match looked over as a contest but a mistake by goalkeeper Justin Haber gifted Qormi a goal.

There seemed no danger when Marcelina allowed the ball to run to Haber but Nilsson capitalised on the latter’s hesitancy as he anticipated the goalkeeper and deposited the ball into an empty net.

In stoppage time, Birkirkara should have killed the game when in a swift break Edmond Agius headed the ball into the path of Juan Barraso but he overhit his pass towards Rowen Muscat.

Qormi
A. Vella-6.5, A. Cassar-5.5, O. Sidibe-5.5, N. Ojuola-6, S. Agius-6.5, B. Berntsson-6.5, K. Magro-6 (74 G. Azzopardi), C. Monti-6, C. Gauci-6.5, R. Micallef-4 (46 T. Vella-5), A. Nilsson-6.5.

Birkirkara
J. Haber-5, C. Attard-7, Z. Muscat-6, E. Marcelina-5.5, J. Zerafa-7, G. Sciberras-7, P. Fenech-7, R. Muscat-6, F. Miccoli-6 (67 E. Agius-6.5), Liliu-5, V. Plut-6 (84 J. Barraso).

Referee: Iwan Griffith (Wales).

Yellow cards: Sidibe; Attard.

BOV player of the match: Paul Fenech (Birkirkara).

Attendance: 1,093.

Standings

  P W D L F A Pts
Balzan 6 4 2 0 12 3 14
Hibernians 6 4 2 0 10 4 14
Valletta 6 4 0 2 9 4 12
Birkirkara 6 3 2 1 14 7 11
Floriana 6 3 1 2 10 7 10
Mosta 6 3 1 2 9 7 10
Sliema 6 3 1 2 4 4 10
Tarxien 6 2 3 1 10 4 9
Pembroke 6 2 1 3 9 15 7
Qormi 6 1 1 4 5 8 4
St Andrew’s 6 0 0 6 5 17 0
Naxxar 6 0 0 6 2 19 0

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