Hibernians 5

Birkirkara 0

Hibernians helped themselves to a rout yesterday, putting five goals past troubled Birkirkara, who have collected only one point from their last three matches.

The result apart, it was an exciting match, with plenty of incident and controversy as two Birkirkara players and one from Hibernians were sent off.

It was a miserable and unlucky afternoon for the Stripes who, after falling two goals in arrears by halftime, were denied by the woodwork soon after the interval, until they conceded two more goals in quick succession soon after both teams were down to ten men, contrived to miss a penalty and had a second player sent off with five minutes remaining.

With Valletta winning on Saturday and widening the gap to six points, the spotlight was again on Hibernians, who knew they could not afford a slip against Birkirkara.

The Paolites capitalised on their opponents’ poor vein of form as well as to the fact that suspensions had deprived the Stripes of key players like Paul Fenech, Shaun Bajada and Moises Avila while Perisic was still unfit for yesterday’s match. Rowen Muscat was given a start while Terence Vella went in for Camenzuli for the second half.

Hibernians, on their part, still had the injured Balbinot, Pulis and Camilleri unavailable, although they welcomed back Dias and Luis Edison from suspension.

The Paolites took a comfortable two-goal cushion by halftime during 45 minutes which lacked real goalmouth action.

Midway through the half, on Failla’s free kick from the right, Marcelo Dias put a glancing header past keeper Mora to give Hibernians the lead.

Hardly a minute later, Birkirkara had the best chance to level matters. Cilia’s free kick caused panic inside the Hibernians’ defence, the ball fell to Camenzuli who lofted the ball from a promising position.

Hibernians’ second goal came exactly two minutes into the half’s added time, in a controversial manner. Birkirkara’s clearance on a Pisani cross fell to Cohen, who slipped as he tried to shoot at goal, but still managed to flick the ball towards the unmarked Edward Herrera, looking in a doubtful offside position in the crowded Birkirkara area. The flag did not go up though and Herrera beat keeper Mora, who protested too long, with a low strike.

To their credit, Birkirkara looked a transformed side after the interval, also with the inclusion of Terence Vella in attack. They pressed Hibernians inside their area and on 55 minutes were unlucky not to pull one back after Vella thumped his thunderous shot against the bar on Pereira’s deep cross from the right.

The match took another twist on 65 minutes. Decesare and Dias were involved in a wrestle for the ball near the touchline and as Dias went past him, Decesare kicked him. After consulting his assistants, the referee sent off the Birkirkara defender but surprisingly he also showed Dias the red card after receiving treatment.

The incident looked to stimulate Hibernians more as they scored two more goals within four minutes.

On 67 minutes, Failla whacked a free kick from the right for Luis Edison to head past keeper Mora. On 71 minutes Clayton Failla himself chased a long ball down the left and unleashed a spectacular powerful drive that left the Birkirkara keeper rooted to his line to wrap up the match.

Leighton Grech’s inclusion did not help matters for Birkirkara who also contrived to miss a penalty on 79 minutes after Herrera’s handling inside the Hibernians’ area on Grech’s shot.

Keeper Muscat dived the right way to hold out Cilia’s shot from the spot.

Vella then had a close effort repelled by the Hibernians’ shot stopper and the Stripes’ woes were further compounded when five minutes from normal time, their defender Rodrigo Pereira was also sent off for a second booking.

Birkirkara were completely dismantled and to rub salt into their wounds, Hibernians scored their fifth, two minutes in added time, after Luis Edison ran past the onrushing keeper Mora and squared the ball low for Andrew Cohen to score with a routine shot.

Hibernians: M. Muscat, E. Herrera, A. Xuereb, R. Soares, B. Kristensen, C. Failla, A. Cohen, M. Dias, S. Pisani (S. Chircop), T. Caruana, L. Edison

Coach: M. Miller

Birkirkara: J. Mora, T. Cilia, R. Pereira, G. Sciberras, R. Camenzuli (T. Vella), R. Muscat, J. Zerafa, R. Scucluna, S. Shodiya, A. Decesare, A. Buhagiar (L. Grech)

Coach: P. Zammit

Referee: M. Spiteri

Asst. refs: K. Borg

4th official: P. Caruana, E. Spiteri

Scorers: M. Dias 24, E. Herrera 45+, L. Edison 67, C. Failla 71, A. Cohen 90+

Yellow cards: R. Pereira, A. Cohen

Red cards: A. Decesare, M. Dias, R. Pereira

Player of the match: Clayton Failla (Hibernians)

TMI top 3: 1. C. Failla 2. M. Muscat 3. T. Vella

Attendance: 1,061