Under 15s Bag Important Win Against Rabat

by Jonathan Spiteri - 29th April 2013

Birkirkara Under 15s returned to winning ways last Saturday as they managed to beat Rabat Ajax 2-1, who are fighting bravely against relegation and, as the end result shows, the game was a hard fought affair, even though the Stripes shaded most of the initiative. This was a very important win ahead of the direct clash for promotion with Qormi, who are still two points above Birkirkara having played a game more.

Our lads had promised themselves that they would have done everything to take the three points out of this match, and took immediate control of the game having a superior technical quality. The Rabat Ajax rearguard proved to be a very hard nut to crack, as the big volumes of possession could not be translated into goals. Our boys' patience was rewarded though as Kieran Xuereb was at the end of a very good move and, after being served with a through ball from the midfield, he slotted the ball low past the Magpies' custodian. This goal gave more urgency to the YellowReds as they knew that the momentum was in their stride a second goal before half time would have given their opponents a severe blow. This duly arrived as, from a set piece situation, Fabian Lufi served Kieran Xuereb who notched his personal brace and doubled his team's lead thanks to a perfect shot in the top corner. As everyone expected that 2-0 would be the half time scoreline, Rabat reduced the gap and got right back into the match, making Birkirkara sweat in order to protect their slender lead.

The second half was characterised by Birkirkara having to play with an injured goalkeeper due to the lack of an adequate substitute on the bench. Being aware of this, all the players made an extra effort in order to protect their goal from dangerous shots which might have given their team mate between the sticks a hard time. The result of this extra effort was that Rabat rarely had a sniff at goal. On the other hand, the Stripes went close to increasing their lead on various occasions, with the most notable one being hitting the post through substitute Gianluca Zammit. The final whistle was greeted with a sigh of relief by the worthy winners.

Mr Charles Micallef was upbeat with the final result as the team returned back on track after last weekend's defeat. “I would like to say a big ‘Well done' to all the players for the collective effort and great fighting spirit during the whole game”. The crucial encounter with Qormi (kick off 14:45) will be played on Saturday 4th May at the Luxol Stadium.

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