Birkirkara dissapoints

by Ayrton Galea - 11th September 2011

Birkirkara suffered the first defeat of the Premier League when yesterday afternoon Hibernians found no difficulty to beat off form Birkirkara with a 3-0 score.

If the previous match was a satisfactory and positive performance, yesterday's was totally the opposite as Birkirkara never reached any satisfactory level, and for the whole ninety minutes Hibernians had the edge over our team.

There were several negative points in this match but definitely the player that disappointed most was goalkeeper Jorge Mora who had an off day and conceded two soft goals due to bad timing in his outings which resulted in the first two goals. However, late during the game he blocked a well taken penalty. This means that so far Mora had never conceded a penalty when playing for our Club.

A positive if not the most positive factor of the game was Leighton Grech who was definitely the best Birkirkara player on the pitch.

To be fair one should mention that it was not easy task preparing for this difficult match with all the players that were unavailable to play. As mentioned in the match preview published by this website, we had three players ruled out namely Andrew Decesare, Rowen Muscat and Shola Haruna Shodyia, while the regularity absence of Shaun Bajada due to his long term injury.

The First Half

In what many considered a boring half, Hibernians had a slight edge over Birkirkara and they took the deserved lead few minutes before the end of the first half after Mora made an unusual bad timing outing.

0' - Esther Azzopardi blows the starting whistle

1' - An action created by Moises Avila Perez, Paul Fenech and Trevor Cilia with the latter's cross ending in a goal kick.

1' - A Hibernians' player handles the ball and Birkirkara wins the freekick.

2' - Hibernians win a corner

4' - Hibernians' foul, Birkirkara are awarded a freekick.

5' - A long distance powerful shot by Edison Luis Dos Santos ends wide after he was served by Clayton Failla.

7' - Angus Buhagiar commits a foul and Hibernians awarded a freekick. From the same freekick, Hibernians win a corner, and from the same corner a Hibernians' player commits a foul and Birkirkara were awarded a freekick.

9' - Birkirkara win a freekick after a Hibernians' player committed a foul.

12' - Gareth Sciberras fouls and was shown the yellow card.

13' - Hibernians try their luck with another long distance powerful shot which once again ended wide.

16' - Paul Fenech commits a mistake in the middle of the field, when his pass was anticipated by Marcelo Dias who served on the right and the shot was blocked, and from the rebound Marcelo Dias hits wide.

19' - Birkirkara replied thanks to a fine low cross by Trevor Cilia who was met by Moises but blocked by a defender, and was then deflected by the same Spanish forward and the action ended in a goal kick for Hibernians.

20' - Hibernians win a corner, and Mora punches the ball into another corner. From the second corner, the defence clears well.

21' - Angus Buhagiar commits a foul. The freekick was turned into a corner for Hibernians but it resulted in no danger for Birkirkara as it was cleared well.

23' - Hibernians commit a foul.

23' - Hibernians commit a foul.

24' - A good action build by Terence Vella and Leighton Grech with the latter's final cross ending wide.

25' - Hibernians commit a foul.

27' - Birkirkara make the best action of the half when Leighton Grech fired a powerful shot from outside the area which was blocked by goalkeeper Mario Muscat, Terence Vella went for the rebound but he was adjudicated in an offside position.

29' - A cross from the right by Hibernians was saved well by Mora.

30' - Hibernians commit a foul. From the freekick, Angus Buhagiar was served and his low weak shot was saved by Mario Muscat.

31' - Andrew Cohen tries his luck with a shot which ended wide.

32' - Marcelo Dias commits a foul and Birkirkara awarded a freekick.

34' - Hibernians commit a foul

37' - Hibernians win a corner.

37' - Hibernians try their luck with a low shot which Mora saved with no difficulty.

38' - Hibernians continue to press and try their luck with a shot inside the area which was blocked and turned into a throw in.

39' - Hibernians commit a foul.

40' - Birkirkara commit a foul.

41' - Rodrigo Pereira commits a foul and was a yellow card, from the well taken freekick Mora made a splendid save which was turned into a corner.

43' - From the resulting corner, Mora made a badly timed outing; Rodolfo Soares put Hibernians in a 1-0 lead.

45' - Angus Buhagiar tries his luck with a shot which ended wide.

45' - Two minutes of extra time are shown.

45' + 2' - Hibernians commit a foul.

Referee Esther Azzopardi blows the half time whistle.

The Second Half

The second half continued where the first half left off, with Hibernians continuing to dominate the game and having a slight edge over Birkirkara. After Birkirkara opened well and were sharing possession in the midfield, it was another mistake by Mora who ended all faith that Birkirkara could somehow save something from this match.

46' - Hibernians commit a foul.

48' - Leighton Grech's diagonal shot was saved by Mario Muscat.

48' - Marcelo Dias tries his luck with a shot which ended wide.

49' - Hibernians try their luck with a shot outside the area which was saved by Mora and turned into corner kick.

50' - Hibernians utilise their first substitution as Steve Pisani replaced the injured Marcelo Dias.

53' - Hibernians are adjudicated in an offside position.

53' - Birkirkara utilise their first substitution as Terence Vella is replaced by Ryan Camenzuli.

56' - Birkirkara commit a foul.

58' - Hibernians almost double their lead when Steve Pisani served Edison Luis Dos Santos who beat the offside trap, advanced into the box and lobbed over Mora, but his shot was blocked by the post.

60' - Birkirkara commit a foul. From the freekick, the ball hits the players' wall and an attempt from the rebound ended wide.

63' - Hibernians continued to dominate and once again Hibernians were in a one versus one situation against Mora, but Mora saved well.

65' - Birkirkara commit a foul.

66' - In an isolated reply, Alan Tabone serves Trevor Cilia whose powerful shot ended over the bar.

67' - Hibernians are caught in an offside position.

68' - Moises Avila Perez is shown the yellow card for a simulation inside the box.

69' - Hibernians commit a foul.

69' - Hibernians commit a foul. From the freekick, Rodrigo Pereira's shot was totally mistaken and ended wide.

70' - Birkirkara commit a foul.

72' - Hibernians try their luck with a shot which ended wide.

74' - Hibernians doubles their lead. Once again it was a badly timed outing by Mora who rushed and failed to hit the ball and Edison Luis put the ball into an empty net.

76' - Hibernians commit a foul. From the freekick, Birkirkara headed wide.

78' - Two became three for Hibernians when Cohen served Edison Luis Dos Santos who released Clayton Failla and the latter's powerful shot slammed the ball home.

80' - Hibernians utilise their second substitution as Triston Caruana replaces Adrian Pulis.

81' - Hibernians win a corner.

84' - Mr. Patrick Curmi utilises the second and final substitution of the match when Ryan Scicluna replaced Alan Tabone.

85' - Hibernians almost made them four from a lob which ended wide by centimetres. Mora is shown the yellow card.

86' - Hibernians utilise their third and final substitution when Rodolfo Soares was replaced by Peter Anizoba.

87' - Leighton tries his luck with a shot which ended wide.

88' - Hibernians continues to dominate and try their luck with a shot which was saved.

90' - Four minutes of extra time are shown.

90 + 3' - Joseph Zerafa floors Andrew Cohen in the box, and Esther Azzopardi ordered a penalty. From the penalty, the same Cohen saw Mora makes a fine save to block the shot from the spot.

Esther Azzopardi blows the full time whistle.

This defeat was the first one in the league after two wins. With this loss, Birkirkara lost the leading position and now they are three points after Valletta and one point behind Hibernians.

Line ups:

Birkirkara: Jorge Mora, Angus Buhagiar, Gareth Sciberras, Rodrigo Pereira, Joseph Zerafa, Paul Fenech, Alan Tabone (84' Ryan Scicluna) Terence Vella (66' Ryan Camenzuli), Trevor Cilia, Leighton Grech, Moises Avila Perez.

Hibernians: Mario Muscat, Ryan Camilleri, Adrian Pulis (80' Triston Caruana), Diego Balbinot, Edward Herrera, Clayton Failla, Bjorn Kristensen, Rodolfo Soares (86' Peter Anizoba), Andrew Cohen, Marcelo Dias (51' Steve Pisani), Edison Luis Dos Santos.

Scorers: Rodolfo Soares, Edison Luis Dos Santos, Clayton Failla (Hibernians)

Yellow Cards: Moises Avila Perez, Gareth Sciberras, Rodrigo Pereira, Jorge Mora (Birkirkara)

Red Cards: None

Man of the match: Edison Luis Dos Santos (Hibernians)

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