Balzan registered their first win in over two months and a half as a goal early in the second half handed them a narrow win over Sirens at the Hibernians Stadium on Saturday.
Balzan, in fact, had gone ten matches without a win but these three points enable them to join Sirens and Floriana in tenth place on the 16-point mark. However, Floriana have three games in hand and Sirens one.
Sirens are still chasing their first win since the appointment of Giovanni Tedesco as their new coach following a draw with Mosta and two defeats to Birkirkara and now Balzan.
The St. Paul’s Bay side had Hamed Kone making his debut while Milan Djuric and Aleksa Andrejic were making their first appearance for Balzan.
Following a goalless first half, Balzan scored the all-important goal two minutes in the second half thanks to Milan Djuric whose powerful first-time effort gave goalkeeper David Cassar no chance.
Sirens went close to equalising twice, first through a header by Sergio Raphael and then with a Wilfried Domoraud header but both attempts were cleared off the goal line by Paul Fenech and Michael Johnson respectively.
BALZAN Vukasin Vranes, Augustine Loof, Samir Arab, Milan Djuric, Paul Fenech, Steve Bezzina, Michael Johnson, Uros Ljubomirac, Stefan Dimic (76’ Sean Cipriott), Weverton Gomes (90’ Marcus Grima), Aleksa Andrejic (87’ Alfred Effiong).
Subs not used: Sean Mintoff, Zak Grech, Gary Camilleri, Adam Bradshaw.
Coach: Mark MillerSIRENS David Cassar, Ryan Grech (85’ Terence Agius), Wellington de Oliveira, Sergio Raphael dos Anjos, Hamed Kone, Wilfried Domoraud, Jacob Walker (84’ Michael Mifsud), Adrian Borg, Samba Tounkara, Ryan Scicluna, Tiago Espindola.
Subs not used: Miguel Montfort, Karl Schembri, Luke Grech, Sean Schembri, Angel Manuel Bustos.
Coach: Giovanni TedescoReferee: Alex Johnson
Assistant Referees: Edward Spiteri, James Muscat
Fourth Official: Emanuel Grech
Yellow Cards: Kone, Arab, Andrejic
BOV Player of the Match: Aleksa Andrejic