St Andrew’s 0
Balzan 2
Vujacic 54, 56;

Two opportunistic second-half goals by Aleksandar Vujacic landed Balzan an expected win that cemented their place at the top of the standings.

Yet, their performance was disjointed, particularly in the first half.

St Andrew’s did their part to make a contest out of it. Without a point after their opening seven league games, Wayne Attard’s side defied their lowly position with a resolute showing but their lack of power in attack undermined their efforts.

Coming from four consecutive wins, Balzan struggled to get their passing off the ground but they did just enough to secure the three points.

Indeed, the result had been in the balance until midway through the second half before Vujacic struck to settle his team’s fray nerves.

The tone of the match was set in the early stages when Balzan looked to have taken a third-minute lead. Elkin Serrano Valero headed the ball in from a tight angle from Justin Grioli’s free-kick but the goal was ruled out for offside.

The league leaders piled on the pressure in the early minutes and soon took control of proceedings with Godwin Mensha turning up everywhere to pull the strings in midfield.

However, despite enjoyed territorial supremacy, Balzan were prevented from demonstrating their renowned attacking potential by the hard-working St Andrew’s for whom central defence trio Michael Johnson, Mariglen Sehitaj and Jordan Williams played a blinder.

Olivier Spiteri, the Balzan coach, made two changes from the hard-fought win over Qormi with Maxim Focsa and Lydon Micallef replacing Clive Brincat and Luke Sciberras respectively.

Amid Balzan difficulty to break down the resistance from the Saints, yesterday donning an unfamiliar fluorescent yellow outfit, Mensha came closest to opening the scoring when an exquisite one-two between Alfred Effiong and the Nigerian striker ended with the latter hitting a low shot and bringing off a top-drawer save from goalkeeper Kris Calleja.

On another occasion, the Saints goalkeeper rushed out of goal to intercept Micallef.

Seemingly plucking up courage, the Saints did not defend en masse and tried hard to keep possession, at times managing to come out of their half confidently. Past the half hour mark, Joseph Farrugia supplied a dangerous low free-kick that finished just wide of the Balzan goal.

But the pressure increased on St Andrew’s fort after the break. Micallef’s forceful running on the left flank created an opening for Balzan but Calleja palmed away the cross-cum-shot before Sehitaj cleared the danger.

That was a good omen for Balzan as soon afterwards they forged ahead. Micallef’s clever pass into a gap inside the box was pounced on by the accelerating Vujacic who anticipated his direct marker before tapping into the net.

The match shifted decisively towards Balzan now as they were looking more enterprising and two minutes later, Vujacic piled more misery on St Andrew’s with a second goal after being released by Effiong.

St Andrew’s were forced to delve deep into their fighting spirits but until the final whistle they could only manage a shot by substitute Jacob Walker that was turned around the post by Balzan keeper Christian Cassar.

St Andrew’s
K. Calleja-6.5, C. Cumbo-5, J. Williams-6.5, M. Johnson-6.5, D. Camilleri-5.5, M. Guillaumier-6, L. Grech-5.5 (60 M. Grima-5), J. Farrugia-5.5, K. Nwoko-6, C. De Nguidjol-6 (83 J. Walker), M. Sehitaj-6.5.

Balzan
C. Cassar-6, D. Grima-5, E. Bilbao Zarate-6.5 (81 J. Corbalan), S. Arab-5, G. Mensha-6.5, A. Vujacic-7.5, A. Effiong-6, E. Serrano Valero-6 (64 T. Agius-5), L. Micallef-7 (75 S. Cipriott), M. Focsa-6, J. Grioli-6.5.

Referee: Esther Azzopardi.

BOV player of the match: Aleksandar Vujacic (Balzan).

Attendance: 449.

Standings