Qormi remain anchored at the bottom of the BOV Premier League table, together with Senglea Athletic, after suffering a ninth consecutive league defeat, losing 1-2 to Birkirkara at the National Stadium on Friday.

For Birkirkara, this win enables them to leapfrog Balzan and Hamrun Spartans in fifth place but the latter two have a game in hand.

From the team which defeated Mosta in their last league game, Birkirkara had Paul Fenech, Kurt Zammit and Carlos Alberto Chavarria replacing Mislav Andjelkovic, Jake Grech and Michael Mifsud. Qormi, on the other hand, had no less than five changes from the defeat to Hibernians two weeks ago as Seo In Kim, Alan Abela, Michael Borg, Iven Zammit and new signing Danny Kabeya were preferred to Manolito Micallef, Mario Andres Arrieta, Alessio Cassar, Lubos Adamec, Kassiano Soares Mendonca.

Petar Orlandic put Birkirkara ahead on the 10th minute with a perfect lob which caught Qormi goalkeeper Jamie Azzopardi out of place following an erratic clearance by the latter.

However on the 29th minute, Qormi equalised thanks to Tensior Gusman who beat Naumovski after the Macedonian goalkeeper had blocked an Alexsandro Ferreira effort.

Birkirkara regained the lead on the 64th minute as Jake Grech’s well-placed shot from inside the area beat the Qormi custodian.

Qormi could have levelled matters ten minutes from time when they were awarded a penalty but goalkeeper Kristijan Naumovski performed a good save on Michael Camilleri’s effort.

B’KARA Kristijan Naumovski, Danilo Augusto Chapoval, Matthew Guillaumier, Paul Fenech, Petar Orlandic (87′ Myles Beerman), Jake Grech (90′ Neil Micallef), Kurt Zammit, Eduardo Ferreira dos Santos, Cain Attard, Marcelo Franca de Siqueira, Carlos Alberto Chavarria (74′ Edward Herrera).
Subs not used: David Cassar, Mislav Andjelkovic, Terence Agius, Michael Mifsud.
Coach: Paul Zammit

QORMI Jamie Azzopardi, Ferud Nadere Gnindokponou (74′ Michael Camilleri), Davide Mansi, Yannick Yankam, Seo In Kim, Alan Abela, Michael Borg, Danny Kabeya, Alexsandro Ferreira (77′ Mario Andres Arrieta), Iven Zammit, Tensior Gusman (62′ Luke Busuttil).
Subs not used: Dorian Bugeja, Manolito Micallef, Gaetano Gesualdi, Alessio Cassar.
Coach: Matthew Psaila

Referee: Malcolm Spiteri
Assistant Referees: Alan Camilleri, Darko Stankovic
Fourth Official: Daniel Casha
Yellow Cards: Zammit, Guillaumier, Orlandic
BOV Player of the Match: Jake Grech