Birkirkara missed a penalty deep into stoppage time as they were held by ten-man Senglea Athletic in a 1-1 draw at the Centenary Stadium on Saturday.
The Stripes managed to take the lead on the 31st minute when off an Isaac Ntow corner from the right, Federico Falcone rose high to head the ball home.
However, two minutes from the end of the first half, Senglea equalised thanks to a Jose Wilkson Teixeira penalty after goalkeeper Andrew Hogg had brought Wilfried Zamble down inside the area.
Senglea had Marcelo Dias sent off on the 77th minute after he received a second yellow card for a reckless tackle on Isaac Ntow.
Deep into stoppage time, Birkirkara were awarded a penalty after Sigitas Olberkis handled the ball inside the area following a shot by Matthew Guillaumier. The referee ordered a penalty but Federico Falcone’s effort from the penalty spot was partially saved by Matthew Farrugia and off the rebound, a diagonal shot by substitute Caio Henrique Prado scraped past the far post.
B’KARA Andrew Hogg, Enrico Pepe, Matthew Guillaumier, Johann Bezzina (72′ Caio Henrique Prado), Kurt Zammit, Yannick Yankam, Roderick Briffa, Federico Falcone, Cain Attard, Ryan Fenech (45’ Michael Mifsud), Isaac Toah Ntow.
Subs not used: Amara Sylla, Jeferson de Sousa Ferreira, Gianluca Bugeja, Jacques Vella Critien, Paul Mbong.
Coach: Andre Paus
Asst. Coach: Jonathan HollandSENGLEA Matthew Farrugia, Sigitas Olberkis, Dejan Debono, Elvis Sakyi, Leighton Grech (60’ Jan Tanti), Manolito Micallef (69’ Connor Zammit), Jose Wilkson Teixeira, Sean Cipriott, Wilfried Zamble, Anderson Carneiro do Nascimento, Marcelo Dias.
Subs not used: Daniel Farrugia, Andrei Spiteri, Juninho Cabral, Justin Micallef, David Xuereb.
Coach: Giorgio Roselli
Asst. Coach: Davor FilipovicReferee: Emanuel Grech
Assistant Referees: Mitchell Scerri, Christopher Francalanza
Fourth Official: Malcolm Spiteri
Yellow Cards: Dias, Fenech, Teixeira, Cipriott, Hogg, Pepe, Olberkis, Tanti, Attard
Red Cards: 77’ Marcelo Dias
BOV Player of the Match: Wilfried Zamble
Attendance: 550