Birkirkara chalked up their 11th successive league victory when they eased past lowly Qormi 3-1 at the National Stadium this afternoon.

The Malta champions were in control right from the outset and they surged ahead on 15 minutes.

They were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the area and Jhonnattann’s curling drive came off the bar and in came Edward Herrera who easily headed the ball past Matthew Farrugia, the Qormi goalkeeper.

Qormi almost drew level on 63 minutes when Alfred Effiong profited from some hesitant defending in the Birkirkara defence to wriggle his way through but his shot was pushed away by the alert Haber.

That turned out to be a costly miss for the Premier League strugglers as a minute later Birkirkara doubled their lead. Alejandro Mendoza was first to a Jhonnattann corner and his downward header flew past Qormi goalkeeper Matthew Farrugia.

The Yellow-Blacks did manage to reopen the issue 12 minutes from time when Triston Caruana played in Effiong and the Nigerian striker turned past Haber before depositing the ball into an empty match. However, substitute Ryan Scicluna, who had replaced Frank Temile, ensured there would be no surprises when four minutes from time he received from Jhonnattann and the Birkirkara substitute stabbed the ball into the net.

Birkirkara striker Jhonnattann was voted as the BOV Player of the match.