Under 15s Held By Mellieha In Nervous Match

by Jonathan Spiteri - 10th April 2013

Birkirkara Under 15s were left to rue the huge amount of squandered goalscoring opportunities when, after finally finding the lead with two minutes to go, they conceded the equaliser in the most bizarre of circumstances. The match was characterised by the strong wind, which played a big part in Mellieha's goal, together with a really competitive atmosphere at the opponents' football ground. This draw came after four successive wins.

The gulf in quality between the two sides was evident as from the kick off whistle, as the Stripes fled into Mellieha's half in search for goals, with the opponents finding the going tough to even get a string of passes together. As mentioned earlier, the wind was blowing really hard and high balls became subject to being effected by its force. The Northeners' focus was to stop Birkirkara from creating open score chances, and they were often forced to give away dangerous free kicks from outside the penalty area, which were all dealt with brilliantly by their custodian. During the first minutes, our boys had a geniune penalty claim, but the referee inexplicably waved play on. The half wore on with Mellieha managing to keep their goal intact.

The second half was a carbon copy of the first, with Birkirkara surging forward and throwing all kind of balls towards the Mellieha defence, but once again found their last line of defence a hard nut to crack. To make matters more frustrating, half way through the second half Birkirkara had a goal disallowed for no apparent reason. One has to mention that the referee and his assistants were under constant pressure from the ‘home supporters'. This was the prelude to a rather tense finale, as two minutes from time, the YellowReds managed to breach the Mellieha defence. Substitute Gianluca Zammit was there to tap the ball home after a fantastic coral move. The goal was not convalidated immadiately, but was then rightly given after a long dialagoue between the referee and the linesman. Then, the incredible took place. A Mellieha player thumped the ball upfield after resuming the match, the ball took an awkward bounce curteousy of the strong wind, and left the ailing goalkeeper watching the ball ending into the net much to the despair of the Birkirkara clan and to the contrasting jubilation of the locals. There was hardly time to kick a ball once play resumed and the referee blew the final whistle of the match, which ended 1-1.

Coach Mr Charles Micallef could hardly believe what he had just witnessed. “Although the performance was good by almost all the players, once again we were unlucky not to score early in the game. I am satisfied with the high percentage of possession, but very disappointed with the referee's decision. The manner we conceded the equaliser was something that no tactics could prevent. It was also sad to see certain behaviour from some Mellieha supporters during the match. I am proud with my players, who kept on searching for the win till the very end, and it would have been a well deserved one”.

The Under 15s will continue their quest to obtain promotion to Section A against San Gwann on the 20th April at the Rabat Ajax Grounds, kick off 13:00.

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