NAXXAR LIONS 0
BIRKIRKARA 1
Haruna 60
Shodiya Shola Haruna struck the decisive blow with a wonderful strike shy the hour mark to give Birkirkara their fifth win of the season as they climbed third.
Jhonnattan was the first Stripes man to muster the first scoring chance but was denied by Julian Azzopardi in the fourth minute.
Seven minutes later, the Brazilian, danced delightfully beyond the ponderous Evaldo only to roll his shot just wide of the right-hand post with only Azzoaprdi to beat.
In the 21st minute, Justin Haber, the Birkirkara goalkeeper went down to push Evaldo’s close-range shot into a corner.
From the ensuing corner, the ball was moved quickly on the other end as Rowen Muscat took possession near the halfway line, before he combined with Temile wide on the left flank,the Nigerian glided past his marker but his shot was palmed away by Azzopardi.
Yet there were still no fluidity to Birkirkara’s passing and Herrera tried to break Naxxar’s wall but the wingback’s effort just before half-time finished wide of Azzopardi’s upright.
In their first foray after the break, Shodiya fired over after some confusion in the Naxxar defence. Then, Jhonnattann spurned a good chance when he was off target with one sweetly struck curled effort in the 52nd minute.
Birkirkara held the ascendancy but they were unable to capitalise on their possession as their final pass was often erratic.
After leading a promising counter-attack, Shodiya broke the deadlock in style. Following a neat one-two with Jhonnattan, the Nigerian curled a superb first-time shot past the fingertips and into the top left hand corner.
Mindful of their troubles to penetrate Naxxar Lions, Birkirkara were content to sit back, holding the lion’s share of possession rather than being stung by the Lions on the counter-attack. Yet, the skill of Gilmar proved a regular nuisance for the Stripes’ defence. Naxxar’s last-ditch efforts yielded a chance for substitute Terence Scerri who rose above his marker to head the ball wide from Gilmar’s delivery.