Hamrun leave it till late to beat Birkirkara

Hamrun Spartans claimed three important points in the battle for a place in Europe this summer as they defeated Birkirkara 1-0 at the National Stadium on Wednesday. Hamrun move move fifth on 37 points, one point behind Sliema Wanderers and one ahead of the Stripes.

For Birkirkara, this was a major setback as they missed the chance to move fourth following Sliema’s draw with Hibernians on Tuesday.

The Spartans scored the all-important goal nine minutes from time when substitute Conor Borg served another substitute – Ryan Darmanin – on the left and and the latter slotted the ball past goalkeeper Kristian Naumovski.

Five minutes in added time, the Stripes were reduced to ten men after Terence Agius was sent off following an off-the-ball incident.

B’KARA Kristijan Naumovski, Danilo Chapova, Mislav Andjelkovic (46′ Matthew Guillaumier), Luke Montebello (77′ Cain Attard), Johann Bezzina, Kurt Zammit, Eduardo Ferreira dos Santos, Nikola Vukanac, Michael Mifsud (59′ Thiago de Souza de Brito), Terence Agius, Marcelo de Siqueira.
Subs not used: Amara Sylla, Clayton Failla, Gianluca Bugeja, Paul Mbong.
Coach: Mark Buttigieg
Asst. Coach: John Arne Riise

HAMRUN Manuel Bartolo, Enrico Pepe, Triston Caruana, Carlos Henneberg (67′ Conor Borg), Wilfried Domoraud, Matthew Gauci, Marco Criaco, Karl Micallef, Orestis Nikolopoulos, Caetao Calil, Kevin Tulimieri (77′ Ryan Darmanin).
Subs not used: Sean Cini, Karl Schembri, Cain Cutajar, Darren Borg, Christopher Galea.
Coach: Stefan Sultana

Referee: Malcolm Spiteri
Assistant Referees: Jurgen Spiteri, Paul Apap
Fourth Official: Ishmael Barbara
Yellow Cards: Montebello, Agius, Darmanin, Bartolo
Red Cards: 90+3′ Terence Agius
BOV Player of the Match: Marco Criaco