ST ANDREWS: 0

BALZAN: 1

A stunning free-kick from Bruno Giglio after 25 minutes gave Balzan a nervy and hard-fought 1-0 win over St Andrews to help his team collect another three valuable points in their bid to maintain their position as chief contenders for the championship.

The opening 20 minutes were short of goalmouth action, as St Andrews, withheld the leaders’ effort. That was until the 25th minute, when Karlo Kesinovic sensed the danger for St. Andrews outside the box but he could only hack down Matteo Piciollo to end Balzan’s first serious venture towards the Saints’ penalty area.

The striker however handed over the duties to Bruno who took advantage of the swirling wind to power a 25-metre free-kick into the top corner.

St. Andrews’ reaction was too feeble to summon extraordinary service from Cassar. On the other side, Balzan looked more compact moving forward. Their opponents’ thicker midfield base hardly allowed their star-studded forward line to launch their typical slick attacking moves resulting from their typical fine passing.

Emny Pena Beltre has been a constant thorn in Balzan’s side, making a series of surging run on the right flank. On 50 minutes, Godwin McKay was on the end of a low cross from Beltre and Cassar had to dive full length to parry his effort.

The onus was now on St Andrews to salvage something out of the game. They moved forward more persistently but the clear openings were hard to come by.

Past the hour mark, Pena Beltre again roaming on the right wing, engineered another good move before delivering a fine ball to Ziga Kastrevec headed against the side-netting.

As the minutes ticked away, St Andrews relied on retreated men and sought to exploit the speed and off-the-ball movement of their wingers. Da Silva Souza streaked away on the right before pulling a clever pull-back to Bojan Kaljevic who unleashed a low drive which was well-saved by Jake Galea.