Birkirkara extend positive run

by Ayrton Galea - 19th December 2010

Birkirkara extended their positive run to two matches as yesterday evening, they beat Hibernians with a 3-1 result.

It was a five star performance by all the Birkirkara players who gave their hundred percent commitment. Once again, we saw a solid defence fully concentrated which denied the Hibernians strikers to penetrate it. The midfield was in a class of its own. Paul Fenech who managed to score a brace and Shaun Bajada had a very a good performance. The latter was being criticized for his few last performances, but yesterday it was a totally different story. The attacking department functioned well as all of them worked hard and gave a good performance especially Emiliano Lattes who scored again.

Another positive point was that Birkirkara did not lose many golden opportunities to score, and they converted into goals most of the chances they created.

On a less positive point, 'The Stripes' had several players unavailable for selection, as Andrew Decesare, Ryan Harding and Terence Vella were all ruled out injured while Nikola Vukanac and Trevor Cilia failed to recover on time.

Hibernians opened well, and they almost took the lead on the 7th minute. A perfect pass by Andrew Cohen found Paul McManus who had his first attempt blocked by Michael Fraser. With the ball still in the feet of McManus, he tried his luck again but this was cleared by Patrick Borg.

The opportunity for Hibernians to score failed, but Birkirkara did not do the same and on the 13th minute they took the lead. A perfect pass by Michael Galea found Paul Fenech in a one against one with Mario Muscat, and the international midfielder made no mistake and his low shot put 'The Stripes' in the lead.

One almost became two just one minute later, when Emiliano Lattes served Shaun Bajada with the latter's low shot being blocked by the Hibernians custodian.

Birkirkara were not denied on the 25th minute, as a beautiful piece of play orchestrated by the forward line, saw Emiliano Lattes serving Paul Fenech and the latter with a half volley shot gave Mario Muscat no chance.

Birkirkara continued to dominate, and it was no wonder that just four minutes later two became three. A perfect cross by Thomas Paris found Emiliano Lattes on the right with the Argentine advancing into the box and with a powerful shot beating Mario Muscat.

From then onwards, Birkirkara relaxed a bit and their only aim was to control the match without suffering any injury or suspension. This resulted in a lowering of the level of the game.

The first half ended to the tune of 3-0 for the Maltese champions.

The second half was quite a boring one, with Birkirkara controlling their comfortable lead while Hibernians trying to reduce the gap.

On the 69th minute, Andrew Cohen almost pulled one back for Hibernians when he tried his luck with a powerful shot from almost 30 meters which beat Michael Fraser but was denied by the crossbar.

On the 78th minute, Mario Muscat performed the greatest save so far this season, when Emiliano's low cross from the right found Paul Fenech and just from two meters away he tried a powerful shot but somehow it was saved by Mario Muscat.

Hibernians managed to pull one back on the 79th minute when Steve Pisani managed to beat Fraser with a powerful shot from inside the box.

Birkirkara were denied again by Mario Muscat on the 88th minute when a powerful shot from Emiliano Lattes was blocked by the Hibernians' custodian.

The full-time whistle found the Birkirkara supporters applauding all the players for their massive performance while they hope that they will extend these type of performances.

With this win, Birkirkara are third with twenty points, ten points behind Valletta and three points behind Tarxien who are currently in the second place.

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