Hibernians move top as Balzan lose to Valletta

Hibernians regained the top spot in the BOV Premier League as they registered a 3-0 win over bottom-placed Pembroke Athleta at the Hibernians Stadium on Friday to move two points ahead of Balzan and three ahead of Valletta.

The Paolites therefore extended their positive run with a fifth win in six matches while for Pembroke, this was a fifth consecutive defeat.

Hibs took the lead after just eight minutes when off a cross from the right by Jurgen Degabriele, Jorge Pereira da Silva headed home past goalkeeper Iraklis Roppas.

On the 65th minute, Hibernians doubled the score thanks to Jurgen Degabriele whose angled shot from the right was not held by Roppas to end at the back of the net.

Six minutes from time, Hibernians scored the third goal thanks to Dejan Boljevic who tapped the ball home from close range following a Jackson Lima corner from the left.

PEMBROKE Argyrs Roppas, Filippo Andrea Scozzese, Daren Falzon, Miguel Attard, Stevan Racic, Zoran Levnaic, Daniane Jawad, Tonci Radovnikovic, Iraklis Roppas, Sunday Eboh (89′ James Mifsud), Tyron Fenech (67′ Zachary Grech).
Subs not used: Fredrick Tabone, Neil Grech, Matthew Buhagiar, Kurt Farrugia, Craig Abdilla.
Coach: Artim Shakiri

HIBS Andrew Hogg, Rodolfo Soares, Dejan Boljevic, Marcelo Dias, Jackson de Lima Siqueira (84′ Dunstan Vella), Clayton Failla, Bjorn Kristensen, Jorge da Silva Pereira (74′ Montell Moore), Jurgen Degabriele (82′ Johann Bezzina), Gilmar Ribeiro da Silva, Andrei Agius.
Subs not used: Rudy Briffa, Kieran Xuereb, Conner Zammit, Andre Azzopardi.
Coach: Mark Miller

Referee: Sandro Spiteri
Assistant Referees: Duncan Sultana, Ryan Aquilina
Fourth Official: Fyodor Zammit
Yellow Cards: Racic, Attard, Boljevic
BOV Player of the Match: Jurgen Degabriele
Attendance at the Hibernians Stadium: 448

Meanwhile at the National Stadium, a goal by Romeu Pericles Romao gave Valletta three important points in a direct clash with Balzan.

The Citizens therefore extended their unbeaten run to nine matches after registering a fifth consecutive win while for Balzan, this was a second defeat in five matches.

Valletta scored the all-important goal on the 20th minute when off a cross by Uchenna Calistus Umeh from the left, Romeu Pericles Romao controlled before beating goalkeeper Janjusevic with an angled shot.

Five minutes from time, Balzan were reduced to ten men after Anderson de Barros received a second yellow card for hitting an opponent.

VALLETTA Dziugas Bartkus, Jonathan Caruana, Steve Borg, Ryan Camilleri, Santiago Malano (81′ Llywelyn Cremona), Luke Montebello (69′ Michael Mifsud), Claudio Pani, Uchenna Calistus Umeh (66′ Jean Borg), Leandro Aguirre, Valdo Goncalves Alhinho, Romeu Romao.
Subs not used: Nicky Vella, Roderick Briffa, Shaun Dimech, Nicholas Pulis.
Coach: Paul Zammit

BALZAN Ivan Janjusevic, Samir Arab (53′ Alfred Effiong), Bruno Giglio de Oliveira, Bojan Kaljevic, Ryan Fenech, Steve Bezzina, Alan da Silva Souza, Abdelkarim Nafti (68′ Lydon Micallef), Elkin Serrano Valero, Paul Fenech, Anderson de Barros.
Subs not used: Chrsitian Cassar, Clive Brincat, Dyla Grima, Terence Agius, Sean Cipriott.
Coach: Oliver Spiteri

Referee: Clayton Pisani
Assistant Referees: Alan Camilleri, Thomas Debono
Additional Assistant Referees: Trustin Farrugia Cann, Glen Tonna
Fourth Official: Jurgen Spiteri
Yellow Cards: Pani, R. Fenech, Bezzina, Borg, de Barros, Mifsud, Bruno Oliveira, Micallef
Red Cards: 84′ Anderson de Barros
BOV Player of the Match: Romeu Romao ( Valletta)
Attendance at the National Stadium: 1,360