Floriana trounce Birkirkara
by Ayrton Galea - 4th April 2011
Birkirkara suffered the most embarrassing defeat this season as with a disastrous performance 'The Stripes' were humiliated by Floriana with a score of 5-1.
Birkirkara never reached any satisfactory level and the huge mistakes done in the rearguard were paid for. We assisted a match where Daniel Nwoke had one of the easiest games this season as he scored no less than four times, although two of them could have been easily avoided.
Mr. Paul Zammit made some changes from the match against Sliema Wanderers. Joseph Zerafa, Shaun Bajada and Ibrahim Babatunde were left on the bench and they were replaced by Rowen Muscat, Ryan Scicluna and Emiliano Lattes.
Birkirkara opened well. On the fourth minute it was Lotfi Saidi who came to the rescue of 'The Greens' and dribbled three Birkirkara players before putting the ball into safety.
On the 10th minute Birkirkara had a golden opportunity. From a good cross from the right by Trevor Cilia, both Michael Galea and Emiliano Lattes failed to hit the ball when they were alone against the goalkeeper. What they failed to do, Daniel Nwoke managed on the 11th minute. From a cross from the right, Nikola Vukanac tried to back pass by a low header to Manuel Bartolo. The pass was not strong enough and Daniel Nwoke made the most of this mistake and score the first goal.
Daniel Nwoke needed only nine minutes to score his second goal. This time it was a good through-ball that found the Nigerian striker unmarked. 'The Stripes' defenders called for an offside position but the assistant referee kept his flag down. Daniel Nwoke rounded Manuel Bartolo and slotted the ball home.
It seemed that the same striker was playing without any opposition as on the 29th minute he scored his hat-trick. Once again it was a through-ball that found the Nigerian striker unmarked and in a one versus one situation against Manuel Bartolo, he slotted the ball home for the third time after just twenty nine minutes.
Birkirkara's weak reply was on the 36th minute when a cross by Trevor Cilia was met by Emiliano Lattes who had his header blocked by Lotfi Saidi . From the rebound Ryan Scicluna tried a powerful shot but it ended wide by some distance.
'The Stripes' pulled one back on the 39th minute. Once again from a good cross from the right by Trevor Cilia. Lotfi Saidi came out and he seemed to catch the ball but it went between his hands and Michael Galea scored the consolation goal in an empty net.
Two minutes later, Trevor Cilia went past a defender, entered the box and tried his luck with a weak shot. Michael Galea somehow reached the ball but his shot was well blocked by the Tunisian goalkeeper.
The first half which produced no less than four goals ended in a 3-1 score in favor of Floriana.
The second half was no different as Floriana scored twice more to humiliate Birkirkara.
For the second half Mr. Paul Zammit made two changes as Ryan Scicluna and Nikola Vukanac were replaced by Ibrahim Babatunde and Joseph Zerafa.
Daniel Nwoke needed only five minutes from the second half to make the best from a misunderstanding by Andrei Agius and Manuel Bartolo, and he flicked the ball over the latter.
To add more to their woes, Birkirkara were reduced to ten men on the 60th minute. From a freekick from the right Andrei Agius scored with his hand. The referee had no option apart from showing Andrei the second yellow card, and gave him marching orders.
The drama was not over yet. Floriana managed to score their fifth goal five minutes from time thanks a well taken direct freekick by Ivan Woods which gave Manuel Bartolo no chance.
With this defeat, Birkirkara are back in the fourth place two points behind Floriana and one point behind Marsaxlokk with just five matches to the end of the season. In their next match 'The Stripes' will face Tarxien Rainbows while Floriana and Marsaxlokk will cross swords for the second place.
comments powered by Disqus
