Stripes defeated by Valletta in crunch fixture
by Ayrton Galea - 22nd January 2017
Birkirkara FC suffered a major blow in their aspirations of reaching a top-three place in the BOV Premier League yesterday afternoon when a goal by Santiago Malan mid-way through the first-half handed Valletta FC a narrow 1-0 victory.
In a tight contest, Valletta emerged as winners in the crunch fixture to leave Birkirkara struggling for their consistency as they won two out of the last five matches. For the Stripes, this was also a major blow in their league aspirations as they now fell to ten points behind leaders Balzan.
Valletta surged ahead mid-way through the first-half and the Stripes did made a reaction. However, their lack of accuracy in-front of goal came to hunt them again as they failed to convert clear chances to suffer another disappointing defeat.
Following this defeat, the Stripes remained in the fifth place and have fell ten points behind leaders Balzan. With a game in hand Hibernians are second four points under the leaders while Valletta climbed to the third place, five points over the Stripes and two over Floriana but the latter have a game in hand.
Coach Nikola Jaros gave the nod for the debut of Gary Muir who replaced Joseph Zerafa while Christian Bubalovic returned in the starting-eleven as he replaced Predrag Jovic.
The First Half
The Stripes had an early scoring opportunity after five minutes. A free-kick from good position was well-saved by the Valletta goalkeeper Dziugas Bartkus.
Valletta went close after thirteen minutes. It was an in-swerving free-kick by Claudio Pani on the second post that saw Santiago Malan's header blocked by Henry Bonello. From the rebound, Umeh Uchenna Calistus saw his effort blocked by Gareth Sciberras.
The Citizens surged ahead on the twenty-sixth minute. Tomas Radzinevicius served a through-ball to Santiago Malan who after avoided the tackle of Gary Muir, the Valletta midfielder hit a well strike on the second post past Bonello.
Birkirkara should have made the score level six minutes from half-time. It was an excellent run by Vito Plut on the left wing who dribbled past two defenders and served Matthew Guillaumier inside the box. The Birkirkara midfielder did well to control the ball but shot wide with only Bartkus to beat.
The Stripes had another glorious opportunity just before half-time. Dimitrov put Malan through as the latter beat the offside trap but the Valletta goalkeeper made himself big as he deflected his shot into a corner kick. For the surprise of many and the protests of the Birkirkara clan, the referee ordered a goal-kick.
The Second Half
Ryan Scicluna, who replaced Matthew Guillaumier at half-time, almost surprised goalkeeper Barktus with an ambitious lob from the half-way line but his effort scratched past the post just fifteen seconds inside the second half.
The Stripes could have done better yet again hardly a minute later. An excellent cross by Gary Muir find Plut beating the offside trap but the Slovenian forward failed to control the ball well all alone inside the box as another glorious chance was wasted.
For most of the opening thirty minutes of the second half, both teams had miscued passes and scrappy touches as the Stripes struggled to continue on their bright side of the second half. On the other hand, Valletta were controlling the lead quite comfortably while two shots by Calistus ended over.
The match came back to life in the last twelve minutes. It was Valletta first to threaten when substitute Montebello served Romeu Romao whose cross failed to be cleared into safety but Calistus fired over from a good position inside the box.
Birkirkara were unlucky to make the score level five minutes from time. A shot by Malan, off a cross from the right, was blocked and the rebound fell to Dimitrov whose wonderful curling strike hit the woodwork with Barktus beaten.
BIRKIRKARA: Henry Bonello, Christian Bubalovic, Gareth Sciberras, Matthew Guillaumier (46' Ryan Scicluna), Mislav Andelkovic, Srdjan Dimitrov, Gonzalo Malan, Vito Plut, Nikola Vukanac, Cain Attard, Gary Muir (63' Joseph Zerafa).
VALLETTA: Dziugas Bartkus, Jonathan Caruana, Steve Borg, Ryan Camilleri, Santiago Malan (86' Nicholas Pulis), Tomas Radzinevicius (62' Luke Montebello), Llywelyn Cremona, Claudio Pani, Umeh Uchenna Calistus (76' Jean Borg), Leandro Agiurre, Romeu Pericles Ramao.
Referee: Malcolm Spiteri
Assistant Referees: Luke Portelli, Chris Azzopardi.
Additional Assistant Referees: Philip Farrugia, Eman Grech.
Fourth Official: Peter Abela.
Yellow Cards: 12' Gary Muir, 19' Claudio Pani, 34' Gonzalo Malan, 41' Leandro Aguirre, 43' Srdjan Dimitrov.
Scorer: 26' Santiago Malan.
BOV Player of the Match: Santiago Malan.
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