Edison Bilboa Zarate, whose goal against Lija Athletic took Qormi to the FA Trophy final, runs clear from Andrew Cohen, of Hibs, during a league match this season.

The 2012-13 season comes to a fitting finale this evening when holders Hibernians take on Qormi in a repeat of last year’s FA Trophy final at the National Stadium (kick-off: 7.30pm).

Both sets of players will not be short of motivation as Hibs are determined to complete a suc-cessful cup defence to somehow atone for the upset of losing the Premier League title to Birkirkara earlier this month.

This will be Qormi’s third attempt to win the second major honour in local football following the final setbacks of 2010 and 2012.

Qormi have never had their names inscribed on a winners’ trophy so they are hoping this will be a case of third time lucky for them, also to exact some revenge for last year’s 3-1 defeat to the Paolites in the final.

Hibs start favourites to chalk up their 10th FA Trophy success today but cup finals aren’t easy and could be tense and drama-filled.

Michael Woods’s team booked their place in the final after a 3-1 victory over Valletta in a turbulent semi-final that saw three players sent off last weekend.

Qormi, too, had a tough fight to seal their third cup final appearance in four seasons as they needed a second-half Edison Bilboa Zarate goal to see off Division One shock semi-finalists Lija Athletic 1-0.

In last year’s showdown, two goals from Jackson Lima and a Clayton Failla penalty propelled Hibernians to a comfortable 3-1 victory over Qormi but Failla says it may not be so straight forward for the Paolites this time.

“These kind of matches are difficult to predict as anything can happen,” the Hibs winger, who has already won the competition three times in his career, told the Times of Malta yesterday.

“Last year, we scored two goals in the first half and that saw us taking full control of the match.

“But things could turn out to be different this time. Qormi will have great motivation after last year’s defeat but at the end of the day it will be up to us to make sure we can emerge winners again. If we take the initiative from the start it will be tough for Qormi to beat us.”

Failla wants Hibs to lift the Trophy and finish the season on a happy note following the decider loss earlier this month.

“This final is very important for us,” he said.

“Losing the championship that way was hard to fathom. However, the FA Trophy would atone a bit for that failure and enable us and the fans to finish the season on a more positive note.”

Woods must effect one change to his starting formation as goalkeeper Mario Muscat, who was sent off against Valletta on Saturday, is suspended. Stand-in Daniel Balzan is set to play in goal this evening.

Qormi have a full squad to choose from as Jesmond Zerafa looks to win his first FA Trophy medal as coach in his third attempt.

“In the last four years, Qormi have shown great potential, particularly in this competition,” Zerafa said.

“In fact, Qormi will be figuring in three of the last four finals on Wednesday (today) and that’s no easy task for most teams in the Premier League.

“This year we had the better of a couple of good teams on our way to the final, such as Balzan and league champions Birkirkara. I hope that this will be our year as Qormi deserve to win this competition.”

Zerafa, who replaced Stephen Azzopardi on the Qormi hot-seat in October, has enough ex-perience to know that his players will have to beat the early jitters to beat Hibs in the cup final.

“Okay, Hibs may be ranked as favourites but in cup finals everything depends on how your team performs on the day,” Zerafa said.

“No doubt my players will be driven by motivation to produce their best performance and erase last year’s disappointment. Hope-fully, Qormi can finally land their first piece of major silverware this time.”

This season, Hibs played Qormi twice as the latter failed to make the top-six cut midway through the league campaign.

Hibs won the first round match 4-2 but Qormi stunned the Paolites in the other fixture as they came out on top following a 1-0 win.

Flashback... FA Trophy final 2012

(Sunday, May 27, National Stadium)

Qormi 1
Farrugia 90;
Hibernians 3
Failla 36 pen.; Lima 44, 48;

Hibernians, led by stand-in coach Richard Mercieca following Mark Miller’s exit at the end of the 2011-12 league campaign, practically made sure of their ninth FA Trophy with two Jackson Lima goals either side of half-time.

Qormi were buoyed with a 4-3 win over Valletta in the semi-finals but found Hibs a tough nut to crack in the title match.

Qormi: M. Farrugia, R. Sammut, M. Bartolo, J. Chetcuti, (55 K. Scicluna), J. Farrugia, J. Bondin, (80 L. Sciberras), Jorginho, K. Thackray, T. Caruana, A. Bello-Osagie, V. Kouadio (65 S. Wellman).

Hibernians: M. Muscat, J. Pearson (76 S. Pisani) R. Soares, R. Camilleri, J. Vandelannoite, B. Kristensen, A. Cohen, J. Lima (84 M. Dias), E. Herrera, C. Failla, L. Edison (90 J. Bezzina).

Referee: Marco Borg. Attendance: 6,996.