Gzira Utd. 3
Balzan 0
Gzira Utd. : J. Haber, N. Muscat, Z. Scerri, R. Soares, J. Corbalan ( C. Sammut 90') , E. Zarate, R. Briffa, F. Barbosa Pereira, T. Veronese, A. Samb ( Jorge Pereira da Silva 83') , H. Garba ( L. Brincat 88')
Balzan: S. Sultana, J. Grioli ( S. Arab 70' ), D. Camilleri ( M. Johnson 46' ), N. Sljivic, A. Da Paixao Alves, A. Effiong, U. Ljubomirac, I. Bozovic, E. Serrano Valero, R. Correa Duarte, M. Lepovic
Referee: Alan Mario Sant
Asst refs: Edward Spiteri, Thomas Debono
4th official: Trustin Farrugia Cann
Scorers: Haruna Garba 56', 80', 85'
Yellow cards: N. Sljivic, I. Bozovic, Z. Scerri
Red Card: N. Sljivic (Balzan)
Player of the match: Haruna Garba (Gzira Utd.)
TMI Top 3: 1. H. Garba 2. E. Zarate 3. S. Sultana
Attendance: 536
Gzira United continued with their impressive run and when faced with title hopefuls Balzan they won by a convincing 3-0 scoreline. It was a good win and another three points by the Maroons who kept marching on.
Balzan were hard hit towards the end of the first half when they were down to ten man following Sljivic expulsion. This was hard to digest with the second half being a total dominance by their opponents.
The toast of the town was their striker Haruna Garba who bagged a hat trick during the second half rout. Their attack was on song with Garba finding the net in regular intervals.
Prior to this match the Maroons had only dropped two points, being held by Hamrun on the second day of the campaign. They remain the only unbeaten team in the Division. Their opponents Balzan defeated Floriana in their last outing and thus recovered well from the debacle against high flying Valletta.
Gzira captain Andrew Cohen was ruled out through suspension after his sending off against Senglea.
Gzira were the most aggressive inside the initial stages and after two minutes Samb made his way into the opposing area but his low drive was neutralized by Sultana. Balzan responded five minutes later with Da Paixao Alves rounding goalkeeper Haber but when his shot seemed to cross the line in came Briffa who cleared to safety.
On 12 minutes Samb passed towards Garba only for his final shot to be saved by an agile Sultana. Seven minutes from the end of the first half a long range effort by Garba was saved by Sultana.
On the stroke of half time the Maroons were awarded a penalty after Sljivic brought down Muscat. The Serbian midfielder was given the marching orders for his second bookable offence. But Amadou Samb's effort was saved by an excellent Sultana.
On resumption Gzira started more aggressive knowing that they had the edge over their opponents who were now down to ten man. In fact they drew first blood on 56 minutes when Edison Bilbao Zarate provided the assist towards Nigerian striker Haruna Garba whose deflected fierce drive gave Sultana no chance at all.
The Maroons kept on dictating matters and they doubled the score ten minutes from the end when it was once again Haruna Garba whose shot from the edge of the area found the top of the net.
And to cap a wonderful afternoon Haruna Garba grabbed his hat trick in the 85th minute. He collected a good pass from Jorge Pereira Da Silva who converted from close range. Till the end of the match the Maroons kept mastering calmly to cruise to another important win which consolidates their top of the table position.