Birkirkara return to winning ways

Birkirkara bounced back from the defeat to rivals Valletta as they beat Pembroke Athleta 4-1 at the Victor Tedesco Stadium on Saturday.

The Stripes join Hibernians on the seven-point mark. On the other hand, for Pembroke, this was the second consecutive defeat after two wins in their first two matches.

Birkirkara took the lead on the 11th minute when Fabrizio Miccoli served Mauricio Mazzetti whose low shot beat Matthew Farrugia.

Five minutes later, a Liliu effort was partially saved by the Pembroke goalkeeper and off the rebound, Vito Plut tapped the ball home.

Pembroke pulled one back just before the end of the first half thanks to a diagonal shot by Austin Martz which beat Haber.

Five minutes in the second half, Birkirkara regained a two-goal lead when a Miccoli freekick was partially saved by Farrugia and Zack Muscat hit home off the rebound.

On the 66th, Miccoli released Liliu and off the latter’s cross, Vito Plut slid the ball from under the goalkeeper to make it 4-1.

 

PEMBROKE Matthew Farrugia, Zoran Levnajic, Alex Cini, Louis Cutajar (79’ Miguel Attard), Owen Bugeja, Paltemio Barbetti, Gustavo Villalobos Carbajal (73’ Siraj Arab Eddin), Kyle O’Brien, Ariel Laudisi (85’ Peter Paul Sammut), Austin Martz, Gibson Bardsley.
Subs not used: Mario Muscat, Rennie Tanti, Lyden Micallef, Tyron Fenech.
Coach: Winston Muscat

B’KARA Justin Haber, Edward Herrera (60′ Edmond Agius), Nikola Vukanac, Mauricio Matias Latini Mazzetti, Elinton Antonio Costa Morais, Fabrizio Miccoli, Ryan Camenzuli (76’ Joseph Zerafa), Vito Plut, Zach Muscat, Emerson Marcelina (74’ Gareth Sciberras), Paul Fenech.
Subs: Ini Etim Akpan, Frank Temile, Rowen Muscat, Kurt Zammit.
Coach: Giovanni Tedesco

Referee: Philip Farrugia
Assitant Referees: Jurgen Spiteri, David Castillo
Additional Assistant Referees: Adrian Azzopardi, Emanuel Grech
Fourth Official: Thomas Debono
Yellow Cards: Laudisi, Miccoli
Scorers: 11’ Mauricio Mazzetti, 16’ Vito Plut, 45’ Austin Martz, 50’ Zack Muscat 66’ Vito Plut
BOV Player of the Match: Fabrizio Miccoli

Qormi collected their three points as they found no difficulty in beating St. Andrews 3-0 in a clash between two teams who were still chasing their first positive result at the Hibernians Stadium.

The Saints therefore remain anchored at the bottom of the table, together with Naxxar who however have a game in hand, after losing the opening four matches.

St. Andrews had a good attempt by Kyrian Nwoko from the left but Qormi went close to taking the lead on 22 minutes with a shot from outside the area hitting the upright.

However hardly a minute later, they managed to take the lead when off a cross from the left by Steve Agius, Alessio Cassar managed to beat goalkeeper Diego Rossetto with a shot from outside the area.

Six minutes later, Qormi doubled the score as Ryan Micallef released Alex Nilsson on the left and with a diagonal shot, the latter gave the St. Andrews goalkeeper no chance.

Early in the second half, Alex Nilsson went close with shots from the left which were neutralised by Rossetto.

On the 62nd minute, Alex Nilsson was brought down inside the area and from the resulting penalty, the Swedish striker made no mistake to make it 3-0.

QORMI Andreas Vella, Alessio Cassar, Ousmane Sidibe, Noah Olawle Ojuola, Billy Berntsson, Steve Agius (78′ Gillmore Azzopardi), Joseph Chetcuti (65′ Clifford Gauci), Kurt Magro Carlo Gordon Monti, Ryan Micallef (72′ Emerson Vella), Alex Nilsson.
Subs not used: Jean Matthias Vella, Edward Falzon, Clint Barbara, Juan Carlos Vieira Peixoto.
Coach: Jesmond Zerafa

ST. ANDREWS Diego Rossetto, Clyde Cumbo, Jordan Williams, Michael Johnson, Nicola Andreis, Luca Cosmai, Matthew Guillaumier (64′ Matteo Desira Buttigieg), Dale Camilleri (77′ Jacob Walker), Joseph Farrugia, Kyrian Nwoko, Nicky Vella Petroni (46′ Chris De Nguidjol).
Sub not used: Kris Calleja, Nick Ghio, Marigen Sehitaj, Wade Moodley.
Coach: Wayne Attard

Referee: Malcolm Spiteri
Assistant Referees: Alan Camilleri, Peter Abela
Additional Assistant Referees: Mario Apap, Stefan Pace
Fourth Official: Christopher Francalanza
Yellow Cards: Johnson, Guillaumier, Agius, Micallef, Cosmai, Andreis
Scorers: 22′ Alessio Cassar, 28′ Alex Nilsson, 62′ Alex Nilsson
BOV Player of the Match: Alex Nilsson