Birkirkara had to wait till the 77th minute to break Marsaxlokk’s bold resistance and open the way to their sixth FA Trophy triumph in their history.

After taking the lead there was no stopping the Stripes as Marsaxlokk had no other plan other than trying to contain their opponents.

In fact after suffering Birkirkara’s opener, Marsaxlokk were a demoralised lot and never gave the impression they could recover.

On the other hand, Birkirkara continued to attack and on 85 minutes the Stripes scored a second goal to seal the issue.

It was a deserved victory for Giovanni Tedesco’s Birkirkara, who were the better team on the field of play, even though this was surely not Birkirkara’s best match.

In fact the Stripes took quite some to settle down as Marsaxlokk played a galant and diligent match and never gave away an inch.

Marsaxlokk, although on the receiving end for most of the match, were never really in danger as Birkirkara had no opportunities in front of Drobnjak.

After barely sixty seconds Marsaxlokk almost stunned their opponents with Moracci passing towards Fonseca who shot slightly over the bar.

Birkirkara started to take control of the match well after the first thirty minutes with the Stripes having a good effort from Yankam and some other half chances that were all missed by Cabrera and Iorio.

In the second half Birkirkara increased the pressure but they could not find a way past the Marsaxlokk defence and they had to resort to efforts from well outside the area.

They had some very good attempts with Iorio, Cabrera and De Paixao all going near.

Marsaxlokk were completely absent up front and for Birkirkara it was only a matter of time as they increased their efforts.

Cabrera, their team’s best scorer this season, had a good header going slightly over the bar.

Then on 77 minutes Birkirkara were finally rewarded for their efforts when from a corner action Cain Attard’s cross shot was met by Iorio on the far post, who surprised Carniello and fired home from close range giving Drobnjak no chance to save.

Marsaxlokk were now demoralised and did not even have enough energy to make a fight back. Birkirkara continued to attack and five minutes from time they put the issue beyond doubt when Iorio was again devastating on the right and his low cross was met by substitute Bonanni, who in an attempt to anticipate Cabrera slotted home fro an unlucky own goal.

It was all as the Stripes started their celebrations which reached a climax when MFA President Bjorn Vassallo presented the FA Trophy to Birkirkara’s Enrico Pepe.

Photo: Domenic Aquilina