BIRKIRKARA 4

Zerafa 11; Jhonnattann 35, 55, Vukanac 76

MOSTA 0

Birkirkara turned on the style to thump high-flying Mosta in a lesson of attacking football.

The Blues were swept off their feet by Birkirkara’s blistering start. Inside the first three minutes, Jhonnattan’s speculative free-kick on the flank took a wicked bounce in front of Omar Borg, the Mosta goalkeeper but he leapt to his left to palm away the Brazilian’s effort.

Eight minutes later, the Stripes put their noses in front with a superb goal. Fastening on to an accurate pass from Haruna, Zerafa raced into the box and twisted his way past Ryan Grech and Piccioni to fire into top corner.

Just past the half hour mark, Jhonnattann floated the ball towards goal where Haruana rose above friend and foe but his header ricocheted off the crossbar. Mosta were left off the hook but not for long. In the 35th minute, Jhonnattann illuminated the stadium when he showed some deft footwork to jink his way past Manu Micallef and Antonio Carrozza before conjuring up a shot that had the better of the helpless Borg.

Mosta failed to break Birkirkara’s momentum after the break as the Stripes continued to create a plethora of chances. In the 49th minute, Jhonnattann slipped his marker but failed to get a decent connection with the ball to shot high and wide.

Mosta’s toils came to the fore when Omar Borg came out of his area to try and cut out Herrera’s pass from the halfway line but the goalkeeper missed the ball, allowing Jhonnattann a clear shot at goal before the Brazilian rolled the ball over the line.

Birkirkara’s onslaught continued. After 66 minutes, the woodwork came to Mosta’s rescue when substitute Ryan Camenzuli, who came on for Zerafa, hit the post with a flying volley after being picked out by Paul Fenech.

There was no reprieve in the 78th minute for Mosta, when Nikola Vukanac got his name on his scoresheet with a close-range attempt on Haruna’s free-kick.