Substitute Jeri Ani, who had gone in for Mifsud Triganza in the second half, scored the only goal in added time to give Sliema Wanderers a lucky win against Birkirkara. It was a most dramatic finish to a match which promised more than delivered as the Wanderers, down to ten men for the entire second half, had to absorb Birkirkara’s pressure, defending in numbers, until they snatched the winner against the run of play.

Birkirkara may feel hard done by the result as they were always nippier on the ball. But they have only themselves to blame for too much lack of creativity and conviction, especially when playing in numerical superiority. Disturbingly short of penetration, Birkirkara have scored only one goal in their last five matches and are failing to breach opposing defences.

With their two foreigners, Mora and Perisic released, Birkirkara gave a start to their new loaned goalkeeper from Marsaxlokk Rueben Gauci and deployed Gareth Sciberras as centre back alongside Pereira, who was retained by the club despite previous reports that he had also been released as well.

Rowen Muscat and Paul Fenech were the holding midfielders, with both Terence Vella and Alan Tabone given the nod ahead of Leighton Grech and Trevor Cilia, with Avila their main striker. Birkirkara were forced to substitute the injured Joseph Zerafa after only 26 minutes.

Sliema were bereft of their two Brazilians Jorge Silva and Jackson Lima who are not training with the club. Ryan Fenech, loaned from Valletta till the end of the season, was included in the starting line-up, playing wide and allowing Mitev to move at the centre.

Both teams stifled each other as they went over the halfway line and there were very few openings for most of an unremarkable first half.

The first shot on target came after 35 minutes – a low diagonal drive by Avila from the left which keeper Bonello saved on the ground.

Bonello was again called into action seven minutes later to hold out a deep Bajada free kick from the left.

The most talked about episode of a mundane first 45 minutes was Alan Tabone’s disallowed goal from a direct free kick awarded after Sliema defender Beppe Muscat committed his second bookable offence and was sent off with halftime looming. The referee noticed some infringement inside the Sliema area during the execution and ruled out Birkirkara’s lead.

Sliema substituted Frendo with Clifford Gatt Baldacchino replacing the dismissed Muscat. But Birkirkara laboured to make their numerical superiority count. Scicluna headed Tabone’s free kick over and on 68 minutes Tabone played a low pass wide to Bajada whose diagonal rising shot narrowly missed the target.

Sliema kept defending grimly, allowing no space for their opponents through the middle.

Even the introduction of Grech and Cilia for Birkirkara failed to destabilise the Sliema rearguard and with the Stripes running out of ideas, the Wanderers summoned their last efforts to move forward in the late stages.

The match looked heading for a stalemate but with two minutes of added time gone, the Birkirkara defence was caught off guard on Mitev’s cross from the left and the unmolested Jeri Ani headed past the helpless Gauci to pilfer the points for Sliema.

Sliema W H. Bonello, J. Mifsud, M. Scerri, J.P. Mifsud Triganza (J. Ani), D. Mitev, S. Bezzina, R. Fenech (R. Grech), R. Galabov, R. Bajada, C. Frendo (C. Gatt Baldacchino), B. Muscat

Coach D. Doncic

Birkirkara R. Gauci, A. Buhagiar, T. Vella (L. Grech), J. Zerafa (R. Scicluna), S. Bajada, P. Fenech, G. Sciberras, A. Tabone (T. Cilia), R. Muscat, R. Pereira, M. Avila

Coach P. Zammit

Referee A.M. Sant

Asst.refs Camilleri, A. Grech

4th official G. Tonna

Scorer J. Ani 90+

Yellow cards J. Zerafa, B. Muscat, T. Vella, A. Tabone, R. Bajada

Red card B. Muscat

Player of the match Alan Tabone (Birkirkara)

TMI top 3 1. A. Tabone 2. R. Galabov 3. P. Fenech

Attendance 926