Birkirkara 2
Lattes 6; Galea 13;
Marsaxlokk 0
Birkirkara maintained their hopes of a slot in European football next season when they cruised to a comfortable victory over Marsa-xlokk, yesterday. The Stripes silenced their opponents with two goals inside the first 13 minutes – and those early blows were always too much for the Southseasiders as they slumped to a third successive defeat.
Birkirkara’s hopes of European football next season were rekindled following the draw against Valletta and Marsaxlokk’s slump to Tarxien the previous weekend.
Moreover, this week’s FA Trophy draw, which paired Birkirkara with Floriana, added a layer of intrigue to the end-of-season fixtures with the two sides now meeting twice in the space of a week.
Patrick Curmi, the Marsaxlokk coach, made sweeping changes following his side’s 4-2 defeat to Tarxien as Peter Pullicino, Andrew Spiteri and Emil Yanchev all paid the price for their team’s poor show and got relegated to the bench.
Trevor Templeman and Carlo Mamo, back from suspension, were drafted into the first team.
Julio Alcorse, following his heartening performance against the Rainbows, was given the nod to partner Alfred Effiong in the Marsaxlokk attack.
Deprived of the services of Angus Buhagiar, because of suspension, Birkirkara coach Paul Zammit roped in Michael Galea in what turned out to be the only change from the starting XI that played in the 1-1 draw against Valletta.
The Birkirkara skipper re-invented himself as a playmaker alongside Andrei Agius and Rowen Muscat who sat deep in central midfield, behind a front three of Emiliano Lattes, Ibrahim Babatunde and Trevor Cilia.
On his part, Andrew Decesare was deployed as an attacking full-back as the Stripes switched from 4-3-3 to a more offensive 3-4-3.
But, more importantly, Decesare added thrust on the left and it was not long before the winger set up Lattes for one of many shots that were blocked.
As early as the sixth minute, Marsaxlokk were already wary of Lattes’s threat.
Well picked just outside the area by Cilia, the Argentine quickly transferred the ball on his favourite foot to fire a thumping right-footer across Reuben Gauci and into the top corner.
That fine goal seemed to knock Marsaxlokk sideways and just as they were trying to recover, Galea matched Lattes’s skill after 13 minutes.
He cut in from the right and let fly from 25 metres, arrowing the ball past Gauci. Yet, it was the space created by Decesare on the left flank that helped Galea create this well-taken goal.
Confidence and attacking flair characterised the Stripes’ play in the opening half as Lattes swung in a free-kick for a determined Agius to head just wide after 18 minutes.
Sensing their authority on the game, Birkirkara eased down a gear but in the 34th minute, Lattes fired a powerful 25-metre free-kick narrowly wide.
Curmi had clearly delivered stern words to his players at half-time and Alcorse should have done better as he saw his low effort blocked when coming face to face with Manuel Bartolo on 53 minutes.
Trevor Templeman then picked Effiong out with a perfect ball but the Nigerian skewed his shot well wide.
Birkirkara’s early momentum had all but disappeared as Mar-saxlokk controlled affairs in midfield while keeping the threat of Lattes and Babatunde under control after their early promise, although it took fine work from Gauci to prevent the Argentine from increasing the Stripes’ tally after 75 minutes.
With the complexion of the game seemingly changing, Zammit replaced Galea with Ryan Scicluna in a bid to shore up the midfield as Curmi sent on Ryan Darmanin for Effiong.
It mattered little as Marsaxlokk’s challenge faded and two minutes from time, a free-kick by Carlo Mamo, straight into Bartolo’s hands, offered the Southseasiders a spark in a tame contest.
The outgoing champions held their opponents at arm’s length before they retired to reflect on the crucial match against Floriana, content that they are heading in the right direction.
Birkirkara
M. Bartolo-7, I. Babatunde-6.5 (83 T. Vella), R. Muscat-5, P. Borg-6, A. Decesare-6.5 (70 K. Pulo-6), A. Agius-6, J. Zerafa-6, N. Vukanac-6, E. Lattes-7.5, M. Galea-6.5 (64 R. Scicluna-6), T. Cilia-6.5.
Marsaxlokk
R. Gauci-6, M. Licari-5, C. Brincat-5, C. Mamo-6.5, T. Templeman-5, F. Raimy-5 (69 E. Yanchev-6), R. Galabov-5, G. Sciberras-5, M. Deanov-5 (82 G. Caruana), A. Effiong-5 (72 R. Darmanin-5), J. Alcorse-4.5.
Referee: Marco Borg.
Yellow cards: Babatunde, Vukanac, Decesare, Zerafa.
BOV player of the match: Emiliano Lattes (Birkirkara).