Ħamrun Spartans 0
Birkirkara 3
Mifsud Triganza 9; Herrera 41; Camenzuli 77;

Birkirkara strolled to a convincing victory over Ħamrun Spartans to remain within touching distance of Premier League pacesetters Valletta and Hibernians.

There was never any doubt on who would bag the three points as Birkirkara proved too strong for the struggling Spartans who had goalkeeper Andrea Cassar to thank for not conceding a heavier defeat.

With the points’ tally halved at the start of the Championship Pool, Birkirkara will now start the second phase in third place, just one point adrift of leading duo Valletta and Hibernians, and on the back of yesterday’s display the Stripes will surely be among the protagonists in this season’s title race.

With Paul Fenech ruled out by suspension, Ryan Scicluna and Gareth Sciberras were given the nod to combine craft and guile in central midfield while Edward Herrera came on for the suspended Joseph Zerafa, having the liberty to break forward on the right flank.

On his part, Ħamrun mentor Stefan Sultana reshuffled his starting XI as Anthony Curmi, Ryan Spiteri and Cesar Catalan were all named among the substitutes with French striker Loic Lumbilla leading their forward line as Daniel Zerafa was assigned a role in midfield with Glenn Azzopardi taking up the left-back duties.

The moment referee Malcolm Spiteri signalled the start of the match, torrential rain swept across the National Stadium, drenching the players for the first half of the match.

The slippery surface did not help matters as Birkirkara tried to surge into an early lead and they nearly did that through Jhonnattan who tried his luck with a wonderful bicycle kick that finished just wide off Cassar’s near post after just seven minutes.

But Birkirkara did not have to wait too long to seize the lead. The speed and technique of Jhonnattann again came to fore two minutes later when his strike was parried away by Cassar but Mifsud Triganza was first to the rebound to flick home.

The goal failed to lift the tempo though as Birkirkara were happy to go into the break 1-0 in front. However, four minutes from half-time, the Spartans gifted the Stripes a second goal.

Herrera profited from some poor defending from the Reds to hit a powerful drive beyond Cassar.

Birkirkara stepped up the tempo on the change of ends with Ryan Camenzuli forcing Cassar into a diving save and moments later the Ħamrun keeper again did well to deny Shola Haruna Shodiya when pushing over the bar his firm drive.

Birkirkara remained in ascen-dancy, with Camenzuli delivering a teasing effort which was tipped onto the bar by the Ħamrun goalkeeper in the 70th minute.

A minute later Birkirkara could have made it 3-0 through Scicluna whose shot rattled the upright.

But the Stripes sealed the points 13 minutes from time when Camenzuli’s shot beat Cassar.

Ħamrun Spartans
A. Cassar-6.5, R. Fenech-6, E. Lattes-6, A. Borg-5, D. Zerafa-5 (78 L. Grech), L. Lumbilla-4.5, T. Vella-4.5 (85 R. Spiteri), B. Guga-5, G. Favero-4, M. Grima-5, G. Azzopardi-4.

Birkirkara
J. Haber-6, R. Scicluna-6.5, Z. Muscat-6, N. Vukanac-6, R. Camenzuli-7 (90 R. Taliana), G. Sciberras-6, S. Haruna Shodiya-6.5, Jhonnattan-6 (69 Joselito-5), E. Herrera-7, A. Mendoza-6, J.P. Mifsud Triganza-6 (83 K. Zammit).

Referee: Malcolm Spiteri.

Yellow card: Scicluna.

BOV Player of the match: Ryan Camenzuli (Birkirkara).

Standings

Note: In brackets points at start of second phase.