Birkirkara 1

Mqabba 0

In a tense encounter, Birkirkara returned to winning ways after they managed to beat Mqabba by a solitary goal through a penalty converted by Terence Vella a few minutes before half time.

In the first encounter of the evening, Birkirkara were raring to go against an Mqabba side which were fresh from their recent win against Marsaxlokk. Birkirkara fielded a number of changes from last week with Vella and Grech upfront while Mqabba were also relying on the strength of their foreigners Mamic and Timotic spearheading the midfield.

After just a minute, Shodiya latched on to a ball in the top third of the field but his shot went well wide. On seven minutes, Mqabba had a goal disallowed when Mamic appeared to have headed home from close range but the referee disallowed the goal for a foul. On 18 minutes, Vella had a shot which went just wide as the Stripes began gaining the ascendancy.

On 25 minutes, Mqabba had a fine chance when Sammut found Mamic who alone in the box forced a great save off Panovic. On 31 minutes, Azzopardi was all alone but he incredibly squared his shot wide from just in front of the goal area. On 42 minutes, Birkirkara won a penalty after Vella was felled by Calleja in the box with the referee pointing to the spot. Vella himself converted the penalty without much ado to send the Stripes one up at the interval.

The second half began without much incident although Birkirkara came close with another attempt by Vella on 49 minutes. On 71 minutes Mazzitelli squared to Potezica whose low shot went just wide of the post. Birkirkara should have closed it on 79 minutes when Shodiya was put through by Leighton Grech but the former’s shot went just wide as Mqabba began leaving lots of space at the back.

Shodiya had a number of chances to close off the encounter but he did not manage to conclude at every occasion. However this did not matter much as the Stripes saw out the encounter till the end to register an important victory.

Birkirkara: A. Panovic, R. Camenzuli , Muscat (A Tabone) R, Sciberras G, Zerafa J, S. Bajada, P. Fenech, R. Scicluna, T. Vella (T. Cilia), L. Grech ( M Camilleri), S. Shodiya

Coach: P. Zammit

Mqabba: . K. Calleja , M. Potezica, P Grima, B Timotic, M Briffa (JP Muscat), D. Azzopardi, T D Mazitelli, C Calleja (C. Micallef), M Bonnici, B. Mamic (S. Magro)

Coach: C. Mizzi

Referee: A. Arciola

Scorers: T Vella (pen) 44

Yellow cards: M Briffa, K Calleja, C Calleja, L Grech

Player of the match: Paul Fenech (Birkirkara)

TMI Top 3: 1. P Fenech 2. S. Shodiya 3. B Mamic