Birkirkara FC set up an Europa League second qualifying round tie against English Premier club West Ham when they beat FC Ulisses of Armenia 31 yesterday in Yerevan, winning the tie 3-1 on aggregate.
It was an important and prestigious win for the Stripes who have thus advanced to the second qualifying round.
Important because it will benefit the club financially and prestigious because it continues to show that the Stripes are good performers in Europe.
For new coach Giovanni Tedesco, it must have been much more emotional than the goalless draw in Malta. Yesterday he led the side to a very crucial win far away from home.
The Stripes won the match in the first half when they scored two goals without reply. They were superior technically and even had a shot from Miccoli hitting the crossbar.
In the second half, they elected to contain their opponents and though the latter pulled one back 20 minutes from the end, the Stripes hit abck to score again from a Fenech penalty to put the result beyond doubt.
Tedesco included Italian striker Fabrizio Miccoli right from the very first whistle and the former Juventus and Italy striker showed some excellent touches, especially his set pieces not to mention the goal he scored – the first since joining the club.
Birkirkara played confidently in the first half and it was no surprise that they took the lead on the 21st minute, even if Miccoli, the scorer, made the most of a lapse by the Ulisses defence.
In fact, the ball from the Birkirkara defence seemed to be well covered by an Armenian defender and the goalie, but the former elected to pass to another defender in the middle who did not expect the pass and Miccoli was on the right spot to first time home into the empty net.
This goal encouraged the Stripes who moved forward with purpose every time they had the ball in their possession. In the 26th minute, they were unlucky not to have doubled their lead when a Miccoli fine inswinging freekick hit the crossbar with the goalie completely beaten.
At the other end, in their only shot at goal, a Geperidze fine effort from 20 metres was equally saved brilliantly by Akpan who was deputising for the injured Justin Haber.
Despite some Ulisses pressure, Birkirkara remained firmly in command with Vukanac and Mazzetti dominating the central approaches.
The latter also found time to move forward for a freekick a minute before the interval to head home a second goal for the Stripes off a perfect Miccoli freekick.
The Stripes were leading by a healthy 0-2 cushion at the interval.
Five minutes into the second half, Murga tested Armenian goalie Beglaryan who turned to corner in style. From Miccoli’s cornerkick, a Liliu close range header was saved by the Armenian goalie with great difficulty, thus avoiding a third goal.
Ulisses reduced the arrears in the 71st minute – a goal which should have been avoided by the Birkirkara defence. From a cornerkick action, it was Morozov, unmarked, who beat Apkan with a header.
Birkirkara ended up in 10 men on 76 minutes when substitute Terence Vella was shown a red card after an incident with Piliev of Ulisses.
But despite this setback, the Stripes fought back to win a penalty which was converted in style by Paul Fenech who made the score 3-1.
Soon after, the two sides were back on level terms numerically as Aleksanyan was shown the red card for a bad foul.
Valletta were eliminated after a 2-1 defeat at home to Newtown, while Balzan were also knocked out following a 1-0 away defeat against Zeljeznicar.
Valletta failed to make it to the next round of the Europa League when they were again beaten by Welsh opponents Newtown at the Hibs stadium yesterday in a match of mediocre standards.
High hopes of turning the 2-1 deficit in the first leg, thanks to Jason Oswell’s injury time winner the week before, were dashed when Valletta conceded an early goal that might have had a bearing on the final result. Always chasing the result, the Citizens showed some character and managed to equalise soon after the restart. But failing to hand Newtown the killer blow, the Welsh came back to score a winner, even after contriving to miss a penalty. Valletta, who need to gel badly as a team, bowed out on a 4-2 aggregate.
For most of the match, Valletta failed to pass the ball with enough creativity and were too reliant on Roderick Briffa and Jhonnattann to create space inside their opponents’ defence.
Coach Paul Zammit made several changes in his starting line-up from the First leg match. With Ian Azzopardi suspended for this match, he also dropped Maxim Focsa, Uchenna Umeh and Luke Montebello, as Valletta were buoyed by the return of Jonathan Caruana in defence and Roderick Briffa in midfield. Jhonnattann Benitez was handed a start after making a substitute appearance and scoring his side’s goal in Wales. Thierry Tazameta, Valletta’s new striker from Equatorial Guinea was a huge disappointment though, showsing very rough touches and raw quakities in attack, even though he scored Valletta’s temporary equaliser.
The match’s first chance ironically fell to Vallletta in the opening four minutes as the ball dropped invitingly inside the Newtown area in front of Jhonnattan who hit first time but keeper Jones blocked well.
The goal came at the other end three minutes later though. Valletta failed to clear a deep cross from the right and with keeper Vella out of position, Jason Oswell scored from a tight angle.
Visibly shell-shocked, Valletta tried to regroup and past the quarter hour were unlucky when Juan Gill clipped the Newtown bar with his header off a Nafti corner. Jhonnattan’s low cross found nobody to connect to and after 22 minutes, Oswell cleared off the line into a corner as Valletta started to mount some sustainable pressure.
But Newtown looked menacing again past the half hour and went close to double their lead when, off a Hearsey cross from the left, Boundford shot against the upright.
Valletta were handed a lifeline within the first minute of the second period when Jhonnattann delivered a cross inside the Newtown area and Thierry Tazameta was on hand to knock the ball past keeper Jones to level matters.
Valletta were still in deficit on aggregate though but increased their efforts although they lacked enough creativity to down modest opponents, who panicked whenever Valletta pushed forward.
Past the hour, Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza went in for Tazameta to give Valletta’s attack some much needed impetus.
Their hopes were however dampened 15 minutes from time when Ryan Camilleri’s lunging tackle on Sutton insided the Newtown area, earned him a straight red card and his eventual dismissal.
Many though it was all over for Valletta when, with seven minutes remaining, they conceded a penalty after central defender Gill held Oswelll inside the area.
The crowd erupted though as keeper Vella dived the right way to deny Matthew Owen from the spot.
But it was really over for Valletta on 85th minute when Owen atoned for the previous mistake to score with a low drive beyond Vella’s reach.
During his side’s celebrations, substitute Matthew Cook was also dismissed for a second booking as both sides ended the match with ten men.
The damp silence from the Valletta fans at the end, had the feel of a reality check for Maltese football.