Balzan Youths kept up their promotion challenge, beating lowly Pieta to move to third position, equal on points with St George’s, a point behind Vittoriosa Stars.
Balzan’s victory was a more than deserved one. They had several scoring chances, even missing a penalty, and their victory could have been with a bigger margin. Balzan completely dominated the first half, in which they build a two-goal lead.
Pieta had a good patch at the start of the second half hen they reduced the arrears soon after Balzan missed a penalty. But Balzan were still the better side, and veteran Ivan Zammit gave his solid contribution when he came in as a substitute and even scored the third goal from the penalty spot.
Pieta are now in deep relegation trouble, and they need to show better fair if they want to avoid the drop to Division Two.
Balzan were the better team from the start as they pushed forward for an early goal. Peter Anizoba was very menacing with his runs and he went close on ten minutes when his shot from the edge of the area slightly missed the target.
Nine minutes later Balzan took the lead when Peter Anizoba made his way inside the penalty area and crossed towards Simon Shead who easily tapped the ball home from close range.
On 23 minutes Balzan increased the score when David Fenech floated a good corner and Simon Aquilina headed home past Montfort. Minutes later Balzan went close again with a David Fenech freekick that was well saved by Montfort.
In the final minutes of the first half Pieta had their good moments when Refalo passed to Perry Acton who was blocked by the Balzan goalkeeper. Four minutes from the break Quilan Refalo’s freekick slightly missed the target.
The second half started with another Refalo freekick that hit the side netting. On 51 minutes a Peter Anizoba cross was handled by Dominic Mifsud, with referee Barbara awarding the penalty. But form the penalty spot Simon Aquilina could only hit the base of the upright.
Five minutes later Pieta were back in the game when Refalo and substitute Zack Muscat combined well with the former hitting home from the edge of the area. Balzan tried to re-establish their two goal lead and went close with a Simon Shead dipper that was brilliantly saved by Montfort. On 68 minutes Peter Anizoba went past two Pieta defenders but his shot went slightly wide.
On 77 minutes Balzan were awarded a second penalty when substitute Aaron Agius was tripped inside the box by Keith Fedele, and this time the penalty kick was taken by player-coach Ivan Zammit who beat Montfort for Balzan’s third goal.
Five minutes from time Pieta were reduced to ten players when Sheldon Grech was sent off. In the remaining minutes Balzan could have added more goals with Shead and Aaron Agius missing easy chances in front of goal.
Balzan Y – J. Galea, S. Aquilina, C. Micallef, J. Francica, R. Forace, D. Agius, M. Sciortino (I. Zammit), B. Bondin, D. Fenech (A. Agius), P. Anizoba (G. Tanti), S. Shead.
Pieta H – M. Montfort, C. Sammut, B. Perry Acton (Z. Muscat), Q. Refalo, M. Alabi, C. Cassar (S. Grech), D. Mifsud (M. Agius), I. Grech, S. Micallef, K. Fedele, S. Pace.
Referee – Gordon Barbara