Balzan 1 Qormi 0
Josè Luis Armario’s second half strike kept alive Balzan’s flickering hopes of clinching a place in the Championship Pool as Jesmond Zerafa’s side edged past Qormi.
Clear scoring chances were something of a rarity in the opening period as the two sides lacked firepower in front of goal. In the quarter of the hour mark, 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 Terrible 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 the latter’s low drive.
A promising Qormi attack was halted by Steve Bezzina who made a timely tackle to stop the advancing Leighton Grech in the box after the nippy striker had been put through by Alfred Effiong.
After the break, the Nigerian gave the illusion of a goal when his angled drive, after he had run clear of the Balzan goalkeeper flashed across the side-netting.
The breakthrough was not long in coming but it was Balzan who got it after 53 minutes. Combining craft with graft, Pedrinho powered his way through the middle, advancing up the edge of the box, he dragged the ball for Edison Zarate Bilbao. The former Qormi midfielder wasted no time in supplying a teasing low cross towards the unmarked Josè Luis Amario Negrin who nodded the ball into the net.
Zeman’s players continued to huff and puff in their bid to restore parity but their lack of guile in midfield meant that their efforts were easily kept at bay.
That was not the case with Balzan who profiting from acres of spaces in the Qormi half and Lydon Micallef threatened to make the game safe after 78 minutes but Bartolo 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, Qormi defender Owen Bugeja was shown as straight red card, presumably for dissent.