BALZAN                        3

Alves 13, 35

Ljubomirac 48

MOSTA 1

Farrugia 16

Balzan lowered Mosta’s colours to go top of the Premier League standings.

Balzan didn’t have to wait long for their early pressure to pay dividends.

Not more than 13 minutes from the initial whistle had passed when Alex Alves threw the Mosta defence off balance with a run on the right before unleashing a fierce drive with the ball hitting the underside of the bar and bouncing back into play.

Referee Jude Utulu ruled it had crossed the line.

Balzan's joy was short-lived.

Within three minutes of Alves’s opener, Mosta made it 1-1 thanks to Tyrone Farrugia. A long free-kick caused confusion in the Balzan defence and Farrugia steered the ball home.

Goalkeeper Steve Sultana then gave away a free-kick after he collected Nenad Sljivic’s backpass but Alessio de Cerchio’s shot was deflected into a corner by Ivan Bozovic.

Outplayed by Balzan in the early minutes, Mosta gradually began to find their passing range, thanks in the large part to the probing of midfielder Juri Cisotti.

When a miscued pass from the Italian nippy midfield ended the possibility of a dangerous counter-attack by Mosta, Balzan moved quickly the ball upfield. Latching onto a long pass, Andrija Majdevac twisted and turned on the right flank before passing to the unmarked Alves who flicked home from close range as Balzan scored against the run of play.

The second period had just started when Uros Ljubomirac got on the end of corner by Milos Lepovic to curl his shot past Andreas Vella, the Mosta custodian.

Majdevac might have put the result beyond Mosta past the hour mark. Romeu Romao erroneously pass the ball backwards and it found its way to the left flank where the Serbian striker cut inside but was closed out by Vella.

Alex Alves was voted BOV player of the match.

 

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