Birkirkara 2
Maachi 75; Haruna 83
Qormi 2
Effiong 40 pen, 55
Birkirkara fought back to rescue a point against Qormi in what turned out to be a match with a crescendo for Paul Zammit’s Stripes, last night.
In fact, after Qormi had taken a surprise 2-0 lead, they bounced back into contention with a Nassir Maachi goal midway through the second half before forcing the Yellow-Blacks to back-track and punishing them with a Shola Shodiya Haruna equaliser late on.
As was to be expected, Zammit fielded the same formation that started the previous match against Tarxien Rainbows. Qormi made only one change from the draw against Sliema with Emerson Vella preferred to Ryan Micallef.
Birkirkara were expected to start the game at full throttle but it was Qormi who were the brighter side early on.
Yet, goalmouth action was hard to come at first until boredom was broken when the referee pointed to the spot on seven minutes after Zoran Levnaic was judged to have handled a Joseph Zerafa cross inside the box.
However, the Qormi fans felt justice was done when Matthew Farrugia did superbly to stop Haruna’s penalty.
On the half hour, the largely inert Birkirkara came close to taking the lead through Ryan Camenzuli. Picking up the ball in space, Haruna’s brilliant ‘no look’ pass was weighted perfectly down the left into which Camenzuli scampered but his effort was blocked by Farrugia.
Referee Sandro Spiteri, who had come in for some strong criticism from the Qormi fans in the opening exchanges, was again the centre of attention five minutes from the break as he awarded another penalty this time on the other side when Nikola Vukanac stopped a cross inside the Birkirkara box but the ball swirled up and came off his hand.
From the ensuing spot-kick, Alfred Effiong coolly sent Justin Haber the wrong way.
At half-time, Zammit introduced Rafael Ledesma for Rowen Muscat as the Stripes started the second half full of vim and vigour and strove to make up for their poor first-half display.
Birkirkara’s bright start to the second half was typified by a menacing Edward Herrera shot that hit the crossbar with Farrugia beaten.
It took Qormi a while to handle that pressure but as Birkirkara hit a purple patch, Effiong punished their flat-out approach with a devastating counter-attack.
Defender Mauricio Mazzetti failed to close down Gustavo Villalobos’s through pass with the consequence that the ball rolled in the penalty area. A burst of pace from Effiong saw him through to reach the ball before slotting the ball behind Haber.
The striped-shirted players went up at the other end and Haruna’s shot on the turn caressed the bar.
Albeit sporadically, Birkirkara tried to play the game as it should be, one-touch on the ground when in possession but substitute Maachi, brought on for Zach Muscat, failed to make a decent contact with Camenzuli’s low cross after some good work by Zerafa on the left wing.
But Dutch striker Maachi soon made amends as he cut the deficit with a delightful shot from just outside the area after receiving from Camenzuli.
Reinvigorated by Maachi’s sharp movement, Birkirkara should have equalised but Ledesma’s effort rolled just wide at the far post following a deflection by Farrugia.
The inevitable was only delayed, however, as from the corner, Ledesma’s delivery dropped to Vukanac and he headed the ball into the path of Haruna who blasted home.
Qormi held on for the point with Farrugia coming to their aid when keeping out Haruna’s dipping effort at the death.
Birkirkara: J. Haber-5.5, J. Zerafa-6, N. Vukanac-6, M. Mazzetti-4.5, S.S. Haruna-6, E. Herrera-5.5, P. Fenech-6, Z. Muscat-5 (60 N. Maachi-6.5), R. Muscat-5 (46 R. Ledesma-6), R. Camenzuli-7, R. Scicluna-5.5.
Qormi: M. Farrugia-6.5, C. Uzeh-6.5, A. Mendoza-6, A. Effiong-7, C. Gauci-6.5, E. Vella-6.5, Z. Levnaic-6 (89 Marcelinho), J. Bondin-6 (66 L. Grech-5), G. Villalobos-6.5, D. Pisani-6 (78 R. Micallef), B. Berntsson-5.5.
Referee: Sandro Spiteri.
Yellow cards: Vukanac, Villalobos, Haruna. Missed penalty Haruna (B) 7.
BOV player of the match: Alfred Effiong (Qormi).
Attendance: 668.