Stripes beaten by Floriana
by Ayrton Galea - 11th November 2014
Inconsistency has been the main ingredient in this year's Premier League campaign, and yesterday evening, Birkirkara suffered another setback in their challenge of keeping pace with leaders Hibernians, when they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Floriana FC.
With Hibernians overcoming their final test of the first round with a 3-0 victory over Balzan FC, the pressure was turned on the Stripes to leave the Victor Tedesco Stadium with maximum points, but their low-key performance was not enough to take something from the match.
Falling to their fourth defeat in just eleven matches, Birkirkara are second, and their lead over third-placed Valletta narrowed to just two points while they fall to ten points behind unbeaten leaders of the BOV Premier League, Hibernians.
Mr. Paul Zammit once again kept faith in the 3-5-2 formation, but the suspension of Ledesma forced Birkirkara's Coach to make one change from the last outing against Sliema Wanderers, as Edmond Agius replaced the suspended Brazilian player.
Haber defended the posts while Bissi, Mendoza and Muscat formed the three-line defence. The midfield trio featured Agius, Fenech and Scicluna, who were supported by wing-backs Camenzuli and Herrera on the left and right side respectively. The two strikers featured Shodiya and Morais.
The First Half
Birkirkara produced the first action of the match on the third minute. Edmond Agius won possession inside the midfield department and supplied Shola Shodiya with a through-ball down the left wing, with his first-time shot ending wide off the far post.
Floriana did not hold back, and their aggressive pressing was troubling the Stripes, who on the thirteenth minute gifted the Greens with an open score chance. Paul Fenech under pressure, back-passed to Zach Muscat who failed to control the ball, but the Birkirkara defender showed great reflexes to bounce the ball off Floriana's Amadou Samb to end the danger in a goal-kick.
The match continued to be a balanced encounter with both sides involved in a tug-of-war for possession in midfield, with scoring opportunities being rare. In a scoring attempt for Birkirkara on the eighteenth minute, Matheus Bissi had a free-kick ending over and wide.
Bissi showed his great defending skills just two minutes later. From a free-kick which was not handled by the Birkirkara defence, Manuel Briffa saw his close-range effort denied by an excellent block by Bissi on the goal-line.
However, Briffa's strike was just the teaser of what was coming, as in their next scoring opportunity, the Greens surged ahead on the twenty-eighth minute. A corner kick from the right was deflected by Matteo Piccolo in the path of Steve Bonni who hit past Justin Haber from close range.
Birkirkara were unlucky not to level matter just two minutes later. It was Herrera who produced a mazy run down the right wing, before dribbling past his marker and racing inside the box, but his shot hit the upright and ended into a goal-kick for the Greens.
Yet, scoring opportunities proved to be rare for the Stripes who looked weak, especially in the forward line, with the Greens defence giving an impressive display to keep the Birkirkara forwards at bay.
However, one minute on added time of the first half, the Stripes were given a golden opportunity to level matters. Following a corner kick, Zach Muscat was pulled inside the box by Steve Pisani, and referee Fyodor Zammit ordered a penalty-kick. The decision brought harsh protests from the Greens' bench and resulted in the sending off the Floriana president, Riccardo Gaucci. Shodiya saw his effort from the sport blocked by Senatore.
The first half found the Stripes producing too little, and they headed to their dressing room chasing the result.
The Second Half
Just one minute into the second half, the Stripes equalised. Shola Shodiya was quick to make amends for the penalty-kick miss, by supplying an excellent through-ball to Zach Muscat, whose angled shot hit past the Floriana goalkeeper.
The Stripes gained momentum and continued to show the best ideas in the opening stages. On the forty-ninth minute, Shodiya dribbled past his marker to hit a long-shot from distance which was saved by Senatore.
With Birkirkara enjoying an edge over their opponents, Mr. Paul Zammit utilised his first substitution on the hour mark, when he inserted a fresh pair of legs upfront when he replaced Ellinton Morais with Vyacheslav Shevchenko.
However, the Greens regained the lead on the sixty-third minute in what was practically their first scoring opportunity of the second half. With Bissi advancing out of his position to fill a midfield gap, Matteo gave a fine through-ball in the space, to unzip the Birkirkara's rear-guard, with Vito Plut unleashing a fine strike to hit past Haber from inside the box.
With just twenty minutes to go, the Birkirkara Coach was quick to introduce another striker, as Eliandro Gonzaga replaced Spanish defender Alejandro Mendoza, with the Birkirkara rear-guard now switching to four, while the attacking department was composed of the foreign trio of Shevchenko, Shodiya and Gonzaga.
Birkirkara thought that they had drawn level on the sixty-sixth minute. Off a corner kick from the left, Matheus Bissi seemed to have crossed the line, before being grabbed by the Floriana goalkeeper, but the assistant referee kept his flag down and the match continued.
With the Stripes chasing the game, gaps in the defence began to be evident and in two quick-succession opportunities, the Greens almost went two up. First it was Amadou Samb who penetrated down the left wing before having his low shot blocked by Haber. Just moments later, Matteo Piccolo's cute lob from distance was turned into a corner kick by Haber.
With less than ten minutes to go, Mr. Paul Zammit played his third and last card when he inserted another forward player by introducing Leighton Grech on the eighty-second minute, to replace Ryan Scicluna.
Birkirkara thought that they have levelled at death, when Shodiya continued the ball in the path of Vyacheslav Shevchenko who beat Senatore with a powerful shot from inside the box and the assistant referee seemed to have validated the goal, but just moments later the goal was controversially invalidated for a hands ball by Shodiya.
Referee's Fyodor Zammit full-time whistle found the Stripes conceding their fourth defeat in eleven matches to end the first-round commitments with a disappointing defeat.
Floriana's forward Matteo Piccolo was voted as the BOV Player of the Match.
BIRKIRKARA: Justin Haber, Matheus Bissi, Alejandro Mendoza (66' Eliandro Gonzaga), Zach Muscat, Edward Herrera, Ryan Camenzuli, Edmond Agius, Ryan Scicluna (82' Leighton Grech), Paul Fenech, Shola Shodiya, Ellinton Morais (60' Vyacheslav Shevchenko).
FLORIANA: Valero Senatore, Andre Scicluna, Doublas Moreira, Steve Pisani, Clyde Borg, Vito Plut (75' Emerson Marcelina), Matteo Piccolo (84' Luke Micallef), Conor Borg, Emanuel Briffa (91' Neil Spiteri), Amadou Samb, Steve Bonnici.
Referee: Fyodor Zammit.
Assistant Referees: Alan Camilleri, Samy Attard.
Fourth Official: Trustin Farrugia Cann.
Yellow Cards: 7' Ryan Scicluna, 21' Paul Fenech, 57' Ellinton Morais (Birkirkara), 5' Mattheo Piccolo, 7' Valero Senatore, 48' Vito Plut (Floriana).
Scorers: 46' Zach Muscat (Birkirkara), 28' Steve Bonnici, 63' Vito Plut (Floriana).
BOV Player of the Match: Matteo Piccolo (Floriana)
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