BALZAN          3

Kaljevic 45 pen., 75

Effiong 50

ST ANDREWS 1

Miranda Gomez 90

Balzan kept the top spot in the BOV Premier League when they eased past St Andrews 3-1.

Things could have turned out differently had St Andrews not missed a great chance to take the lead after 11 minutes when they were awarded a penalty.

Racing onto a pass from Joseph Farrugia, Kemar Reid’s quick footwork proved too much for Bruno who floored the Saints striker with a late tackle.

Farrugia assumed responsibility for the penalty but his low strike was blocked by Sean Mintoff.

The Saints might have paid dearly for that miss but for a Matthew Calleja Cremona save on fierce drive from Uros Ljubomirac. The loose ball landed at the feet of Alex Alves but his effort was hooked off the line by Liam Grech.

Balzan did take the lead on the stroke of half-time. Alves ran straight at the Saints defence and went down under the challenge of Tristan Grant inside the box. This time, Bojan Kaljevic despatched his shot past Calleja Cremona.

Any hopes St Andrews had of an early second-half riposte were shattered after 50 minutes.

Alves made all the groundwork, gaining space on the right and his cross was met by Kaljevic who rose above his = marker but sent his header against the post. Substitute Alfred Effiong, who came on for Ryan Fenech, was first to the rebound to slot the ball behind Calleja Cremona.

The Saints tried to get back into contention with Farrugia testing Mintoff with a curling free-kick that forced Balzan goalkeeper Ivan Janjusevic pushing over.

Kaljevic made it 3-0 after 75 minutes when he headed in Alves’s inviting cross.

At death, St Andrews scored a consolation goal when Misael Miranda Gomez’s long-range screamer had the better of Mintoff.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.