Balzan 1
Negrin 53;
Qormi 0
Josè Luis Armario’s second-half strike kept alive Balzan’s flickering hopes of a place in the Championship Pool this season as Jesmond Zerafa’s side edged past Qormi 1-0 yesterday.
Although the Spaniard was Balzan’s hero and saviour, scoring the crucial winner, it was Pedrinho who provided the spark in midfield to help his side steal a march on their beleaguered opponents.
A goalless draw, which would have certainly satisfied neither side, looked on the cards but Balzan’s second-half improvement bore fruition.
Balzan coach Jesmond Zerafa made one change from the victory over Floriana as Kurt Magro replaced the suspended Fabio Vignaroli.
Duncan Pisani and Gianluca Nucera were named in Qormi’s starting formation as coach Karel Zeman was forced to do without the half-fit Brazilian striker Gabriel. Emerson Vella had to settle for place on the bench.
Clear scoring chances were something of a rarity in the opening period as the two sides lacked firepower in front of goal.
On 15 minutes, a sense of anticipation swept through the Balzan fans at the sight of Dylan Grima advancing unimpeded in the inside-right channel but he was blocked in the nick of time by Roderick Sammut.
On the other side, Christian Terribile laid the groundwork as his long pass from midfield bypassed a host of Balzan players and landed into the path of Nucera but Emanuel Bartolo, the Balzan goalkeeper, blocked his rasping grounder.
A promising Qormi attack was halted by Steve Bezzina who made a timely tackle to stop the advancing Leighton Grech after he had been put through by Alfred Effiong.
After the break, Effiong gave the illusion of a goal when his angled drive, after he had run clear of the Balzan goalkeeper, finished inside the side-netting.
Balzan lifted their game and the breakthrough they craved for came on 53 minutes.
Pedrinho powered his way through the middle and dragged the ball for team-mate Edison Bilbao Zarate. The former Qormi midfielder wasted no time in supplying an inviting ball towards the unmarked Negrin who nodded into the net.
Zeman’s Qormi huffed and puffed in their bid to restore parity but lack of coordinated play, particularly in midfield, meant that their efforts were easily kept at bay by Balzan.
That was not the case with Balzan who profited from acres of spaces inside the Qormi half and Lydon Micallef almost made the game safe on 78 minutes but Farrugia leapt to his right to block his effort.
As Qormi rolled up their sleeves in an effort to get back in contention, they received another blow when with four minutes of the game remaining, defender Owen Bugeja was shown a straight red card by referee Clayton Pisani.
Balzan
E. Bartolo-6, J. Grioli-6, S. Bezzina-6.5, Ramon-6, A. Scicluna-6, K. Magro-6, Pedrinho-7.5, E. Bilbao Zarate-6.5, L. Micallef-6 (79 M. Spiteri), D. Grima-5.5, J. L. Armario Negrin-6 (83 L. Sci-berras).
Qormi
M. Farrugia-5.5, O. Bugeja, J. Bondin-5 (44 E. Vella-5), R. Bajada-5, L. Grech-5.5, T. Caruana-6, R. Sammut-5.5, C. Terrible-5.5, A. Effiong-5, G. Nucera-5 (65 A. Isakka-5.5), D. Pisani-6.
Referee: Clayton Pisani.
Yellow cards: Pedrinho; Terribile; Caruana; Effiong.
Red card: Bugeja (Qormi) 86.
BOV player of the match: Pedrinho (Balzan).