Sliema Wds 3 Birkirkara 3
Birkirkara’s goalkeeper and hero of the hour Emanuel Bartolo, saved three penalties against Sliema in a dramatic encounter to book his side a place in the FA trophy semi-finals.
Before that, the Birkirkara stopper produced a string of fine saves to keep Sliema at bay in the opening period in which the Blues were the better side.
It was a cruel blow for the Wanderers who had one foot in the semi-finals in the final minutes but the never-say-die Stripes fought their way back in a nail-biting victory.
Michael Galea’ stunning last-minute strike forced the penalty shoot-out with Bartolo saving from Mark Scerri, Jackson Lima and Roderick Bajada.
Emiliano Lattes, Paul Fenech and Ibrahim Babatunde all scored from the spot for Birkirkara, with only veteran Noel Turner finding the net for Sliema.
From their first attack of any real note, the Wanderers took the lead. Roderick Bajada fed Etienne Barbara down the right and his ball to the edge of the ball found its way through to Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza, the in-form striker jinking into the box and coolly slotting into the net after 4 minutes.
The goal rocked Birkirkara on their heels and it was all one-way traffic as Sliema sought to kill the tie off early in the match.
But Sliema were left to regret their missed chances when after 40 minutes, Mifsud battling for the ball with Galea, pushed him down to concede a penalty. The Birkirkara skipper picked himself up to take the penalty but crashed his effort against the post.
Yet there was no reprieve for Sliema on the stroke of half-time when Nikola Vukanac soared above the defence to meet Michael Galea’s cross and equalised.
Birkirkara were transformed by the goal and they now had a more convincing look about them. However, they were gifted their lead with a calamitous piece of defending from Josef Mifsud in the 55th minute. Galea’s cross looked harmless enough until Mifsud inexplicably flicked the ball back wards looping over Bonello and fell perfectly for a gleeful Ibrahim Babatunde to nod home from open goal.
Yet Sliema also rode on their slice of good fortune to equalise after 66 minutes in similar bizarre circumstances. Mifsud Triganza’s shot was speculative at best, yet it finished into the net after taking a crucial deflection off Andrei Agius.
With the score locked at 2-2, the game drifted into extra-time. The first and only chance of the extra time fell to Andrew Decesare but his cross found no takers as the ball evaded everyone and flashed across the face of goal.
But the game burst into life again with two goals at change of ends. Sliema thought they had snatched victory when Barbara made it 3-2 with eight minutes left. He was well picked by Mifsud Triganza and the striker quickly transferred the ball on his favourite foot to fire a thumping left-foot shot behind Bartolo and into the bottom corner.
But as the clock ticked around to 120 minutes, Galea was Birkara’s saviour again when his drive from fully 20 metres felw past Bonello’s left and into the net.
It set up a dramatic penalty shoot-out, with Bonello capping his five-star performance during normal time with three crucial spot-kick saves.