Sliema wanderers 0
Birkirkara 3
Cilia 23; Galea 24; Comvalius 26
The first league skirmish between Birkirkara and Sliema Wanderers was as good as over by the 26th minute.
A balanced start had been in keeping with pre-match expectations of a well-contested duel between two sides desperate to take the three points to stay in touch with the pace-setters but then the formbook was turned upside down.
After Birkirkara's forceful wing play procured an opener on 23 minutes, Sliema fell to pieces. Their fragility was punished by Birkirkara who scored two more goals in the next three minutes to leave Sliema breathless.
Birkirkara's three-goal blitz took the fight out of the disappointing Sliema who, for the umpteenth time this season, performed like total strangers.
Victory for the Stripes lifted them alongside Valletta and Hibs on the 13-point mark while Sliema remain on nine points from seven matches.
Sliema coach Stephen Azzopardi again elected to leave two of his three foreign players on the bench, Brazilian goalkeeper Michael Gustavo Siscuotto Lima and Nigerian striker Henry Isaac. Young winger Miguel Ciantar failed to recover from the injury he suffered while on duty with the Malta U-21 team. John Mintoff is also sidelined with injury.
Positive news for Sliema was the return from injury of Alex Muscat who was named among the substitutes yesterday.
The Sliema players took to the pitch wearing orange t-shirts with the Puttinu Cares emblem on the front. The Wanderers chose yesterday's match to resume their initiative in support of Puttinu Cares Children's Cancer Support Group.
The game was eight minutes old when Clayton Failla received a pass just inside the box and mustered a shot which flashed past the upright.
At the other end, George Mallia sent in an inviting cross towards the Sylvano Comvalius but the Dutch forward miscued his header.
On 15 minutes, Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza, Sliema's lone striker in a 4-1-4-1 formation, fluffed a golden opportunity to put his team ahead.
Mifsud Triganza nipped behind to the Birkirkara defence to reach Mark Scerri's long ball but the former Birkirkara striker's made a hash of trying to chip the ball over Spanish goalkeeper Jorge Mora.
Scerri then hit over from Ivan Woods's service but on 21 minutes, it was Birkirkara who came close to breaking the deadlock.
Wing-back Joseph Zerafa roared forward on the left before delivering an inch-perfect low cross to Michael Galea who had timed his run into the box to perfection. The experienced striker looked certain to score but his flick drew a point-blank save from Simon Agius.
Sliema sighed with relief but their failure to discern the alarm bells was exposed by Birkirkara who pummelled their opponents with a three-goal burst in the space of three minutes.
Trevor Cilia, who like Comvalius, had instructions to push up the wings, set Birkirkara on their way when beating Agius with a low drive.
Barely a minute later, Birkirkara doubled their lead. The Sliema defence went AWOL as Cilia darted clear on the right before dragging his cross towards Galea who headed home from close range.
Sliema's predicament increased on 26 minutes when Comvalius tripled Birkirkara's lead when finishing off George Mallia's perfect assist with a well-taken finish.
The Wanderers looked shell-shocked. It took them seven minutes to fashion a semblance of a shot. Failla let fly a stinging drive which sailed just over the bar.
Azzopardi's response was to introduce Muscat instead of Lucian Dronca. The Sliema coach announced his intent to throw caution to the wind at the start of the second half by bringing on Isaac for defender Clifford Gatt Baldacchino and change his formation to 3-5-2.
Yet, it was Birkirkara who threatened again when Comvalius jinked his way into the box but his effort came off Ian Azzopardi.
For all their possession, Azzopardi's men lacked the flair to unlock Birkirkara. With 16 minutes remaining, Sliema were lucky not to concede again as Galea sped to the byline before dragging the ball into the box. The hard-working Fenech allowed the ball to roll towards the unmarked Alan Tabone but the former's shot just missed the target.
Sliema Wanderers
S. Agius-5.5, I. Azzopardi-5, J. Mifsud-4, R. Fenech-5.5, M. Scerri-5.5, J.P. Mifsud Triganza-4, C. Gatt Baldacchino-4 ('46 H. Isaac-4), I. Woods-4 ('67 M. Bartolo-4), L. Dronca-4 ('35 A. Muscat-5), I. Ciantar-5, C. Failla-5.
Birkirkara
J. Mora-6.5, B. Nisevic-6.5, P. Fenech-7, T. Cilia-8, M. Galea-6.5, N. Vukanac-6.5, S. Bajada-6.5 ('87 T. Paris), J. Zerafa-7, S. Comvalius-6 ('51 R. Muscat-6), A. Buhagiar-6.5, G. Mallia-7 ('69 A. Tabone-6).
Referee: Adrian Casha.
Yellow cards: Mifsud Triganza; Mifsud; Fenech.
BoV player of the match: Trevor Cilia (Birkirkara).