Stripes outclass City for sole leadership

by Ayrton Galea - 18th March 2013

Birkirkara regained sole leadership in the BOV Premier League when thanks to a magnificent performance they defeated champions Valletta in the much-awaited top of the table clash thanks to a goal in each half.

With Birkirkara's morale sky high after beating Hibernians and Mosta respectively, the Stripes kept improving form to defeat Valletta who could not afford anything less than a win after they were defeated by Tarxien earlier this week.

It was a goal by Birkirkara's player of the moment, Jhonnattann Benites whose magnificent performance seemed to be unstoppable which paved the way for this priceless win for the Stripes. Lacking from ideas and inspiration, Valletta hardly made a reaction, and much of the credit goes to a compact and determined Stripes side who rarely committed any mistakes at the back.

With a goal ahead, the Stripes remained sharp and they showed great resilience not to give in to Valletta's pressure, as the Citizens went all out searching for the equaliser. However, thanks to a strong determination, Birkirkara not only managed to keep their goal advantage but they doubled the lead mid-way through the second half to give Valletta a second consecutive defeat in less than a week.

Useless to say, this win is a massive boost for the Birkirkara clan who not only regained sole leadership but are now two points ahead of Hibernians and four ahead of Valletta, with these two teams crossing swords in their next match.

The Stripes, who were in full strength, came out for this match with their usual 3-5-2 formation with Mr. Paul Zammit making just one change from the last first-eleven selection by replacing Ryan Scicluna with Rowen Muscat.

On the other hand, Valletta were boosted by the return from suspension of William Barbosa and the two central defenders Jonathan Caruana and Luke Dimech following missing the last match. Abubakar Bello-Osagie and Steve Borg were ruled out injured for the Citizens.

The First Half

Birkirkara launched the match in an aggressive way as they threatened for an early opener.

After just five minutes, in a combination of short passes, Paul Fenech sent through Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza who managed to quickly penetrate the Valletta's defence, but Ian Azzopardi's challenge was enough to unsettle the Birkirkara striker and his shot was easily saved by Bartolo. The Stripes appealed for a penalty but Referee Chris Lautier waved play on.

Valletta failed to keep with Birkirkara's rhythm and the Stripes' surged ahead early in the lead as they break the dead-lock on the 15th minute mark.

Paul Fenech showed great vision to send a perfect pass to unmarked Mifsud Triganza who intelligently beat the offside trap and served Jhonnattann who slotted the ball home in an empty net and the Birkirkara supporters erupted with joy.

Valletta who had come to this match with just one thing in mind to take control of the match and surge ahead early ended up confused and panicked. They rarely made a reaction with a shot on goal, to frustrate their supporters even more.

Gabriela Da Silva for Valletta had a powerful diagonal shot ending wide off the far post, and a few moments later, Roderick Briffa made some fine foot work on the right wing before serving Denni Dos Santos whose shot was too wide and too high.

Birkirkara suffered a blow on the 26th minute when Rodrigo Pereira, who had been kicked in the chest by Jason Vandelannoite minutes before, was unable to continue playing and had to be replaced with Zach Muscat.

Valletta should have equalised on the 28th minute when following a chaos inside the penalty-box, striker Michael Mifsud saw his low shot anticipated and well saved by Justin Haber who was in an excellent form. Moments later, Ryan Fenech cut down in the middle from the left but his shot was off target.

With Valletta showing sides of improvement and starting to pile pressure on the Stripes' rearguard, Birkirkara failed to lie down and their resilience almost rewarded them with the second goal in two different occasions.

On the half hour, Jhonnattann was found unmarked but his low shot was well blocked by Manuel Bartolo, the Valletta's goalkeeper. Just seconds later, off a short clearance from Jhonnattann's attempt, Edward Herrera fired a brilliant shot on target which was tapped away by Bartolo in style.

The game continued to be a balanced entertaining encounter with both sides showing great effort and resilience attitude.

Valletta on the attack, still searching for the equalising goal, had Jason Vandelannoite heading high following a Barbosa freekick. Then, on the 39th minute, Haber's short kick ended up in Mifsud's feet but the latter's weak shot saw Haber recovering well and neutralising the danger.

On the 42nd minute, Birkirkara should have doubled the lead. Edward Herrera, who was being a torment on the right side, drifted well in the box and served Jhonnattann but the latter failed to connect properly and the defence cleared into safety.

Just before the half time whistle, Ryan Fenech sent a deadly cross from the left but both Gabriel and Mifsud failed to hit.

The half time whistle found Birkirkara with a solitary goal advantage.

The Second Half

Just two minutes in the second half, Valletta should have made much more of their opportunity, when Ryan Fenech who seemed to be Valletta's most dangerous player of the match swapped passes with Gabriel before cutting into the box but he chose to pass instead of shooting and Paul Fenech was well-positioned to clear the danger.

On the other side of the pitch, Birkirkara went close to doubling the lead. Luke Dimech's erratic pass was picked up by hard worker Gareth Sciberras who served Jhonnattann. The Brazilian winger advanced and tried to serve Mifsud Triganza who was in an ideal position but the ball hit Ian Azzopardi and ended in a corner kick.

On the 62nd minute, Shola Shodiya replaced Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza to give more speed in Birkirkara's counter-attacks.

Birkirkara's faithful took a deep breath on the 71 minutes when they doubled the lead. Shola Shodiya served Edward Herrera whose low cross from the right was tapped home by Rowen Muscat to score the second half in less than seven days time.

This was a massive blow for Valletta who saw their hopes of getting the equalising goal fading away with the Valletta's supporters heading to the exit gate frustrated and disappointed with their team's performance. On the other hand, useless to say, the Birkirkara supporters who outnumbered the Valletta ones were in the ninth cloud as the three precious points were really close to being claimed as theirs.

Ryan Scicluna replaced Jhonnattann on the 78th minute with the Brazilian winger deservingly receiving a standing ovation and huge applauses by the Birkirkara's faithful for his superb performance.

In the last ten minutes Valletta, confused and out of ideas tried to make some sort of reaction but the Birkirkara's rear guard was not in the mood to concede any goals and they stood strong till Chris Lautier's final whistle to secure a crucial victory for their title race.

BIRKIRKARA: Justin Haber, Rodrigo Pereira (26' Zach Muscat), Nikola Vukanac, Alejandro Mendoza, Joseph Zerafa, Paul Fenech, Gareth Sciberras, Rowen Muscat, Edward Herrera, Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza (62' Shola Shodiya), Jhonnattann Benites (78' Ryan Scicluna)

VALLETTA: Manuel Bartolo, Jonathan Caruana, Jason Lee Vandelannoite, Ryan Fenech (84' Dyson Falzon), Gabriel Da Silva, Ian Azzopardi, Roderick Briffa, Luke Dimech, Denni Dos Santos, William Barbosa (75' Demba Toure), Michael Mifsud (69' Daniel Bogdanovic).

Scorers: 15' Jhonnattann, 71' Rowen Muscat.

Yellow Cards: Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza, Jhonnattann, Joseph Zerafa.

Man of the match:Jhonnattann (Birkirkara)

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