Late goal sink Under-17's Team

by Ayrton Galea - 1st November 2015

Birkirkara Under-17's Team were unlucky not to start their APS Bank Under-17's League Section A with a point when a late goal condemned them to a 2-1 defeat against Floriana in the opening match of the league.

On Sunday morning, the Stripes were involved in the first league match in Section A after they had won all the three play-off matches. They produced a satisfactory performance, especially in the second half but they ended empty-handed as a late goal condemned them to the first defeat in the league.

First half

The first half saw Birkirkara struggle in their build-up especially in view of the wet conditions which made it more difficult to control the ball. Birkirkara shared exchanges with Floriana with both sides finding it difficult to create clear-cut scoring opportunities.

The most important scoring chance came Birkirkara's way min-way through the first half when Ayrton Attard when served by Isaac Ciranna with the former hitting over the bar. Ayrton Attard had a couple of shots from distance which went wide.

However, the Stripes surged ahead one minute from half-time sa free-kick from the left side was handled inside the penalty area by a Floriana defender and Birkirkara were awarded a penalty which was converted by Ayrton Attard.

The Second half

The second half saw the stripes increasing their tempo and after one minute of play Ayrton Attard had his shot saved from the Floriana custodian following a cross by Gianluca Zammit. Against the run of play Floriana levelled matters when a cross from the left side was corrected into the net by the Floriana striker.

Two minutes later Birkirkara could have regained the lead when Kyle Midfud's corner was cleared off the goal line by a Floriana defender. Birkirkara were very unfortunate a couple of minutes later when Kyle Mifsud was served by Ayrton Attard but the shot of the former hit the bar following a deflection by the Floriana goalkeeper.

The stripes kept pushing but the Floriana goalkeeper performed another excellent save following a powerful shot from Neil Micallef. The stripes continued to pile on the pressure and went close to score following headers from Briam Mifsud and Romario Camilleri from dead-ball situations.

Two minutes from time both teams had a player sent off in view of an argument and from the resulting free-kick the ball fell into the patch of a Floriana player who slotted the ball past the Birkirkara custodian.

The stripes were very unfortunate to come out of this game empty handed but the second half performance promises well for the matches to come.

BIRKIRKARA: Kurt Polidano, Alessio Azzopardi, Briam Mifsud, Jordan Sciberras, Romario Camilleri, Neil Micallef, Kyle Mifsud, Karl Caruana, Isaac Cirana, Ayrton Attard, Gianluca Zammit (70' Aidan Micallef)

Yellow Cards: 65' Kyle Mifsud, 69' Isaac Cirana.

Red Cards: 79' Karl Caruana.

Scorer: 39' Ayrton Attard.

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