Leandro Aguirre freekicks put Birkirkara on top

Two freekicks by Leandro Aguirre handed Birkirkara a 2-0 win over Gudja United at the Tony Bezzina Stadium on Saturday. A win which puts the Stripes on top the BOV Premier League table, one point ahead of Hibernians.

Birkirkara coach Andre Paus named an unchanged team following a draw with Gzira. Gudja, on the other hand, had two changes from the team which defeated Valletta as Justin Grioli and Aidan Friggieri replaced Neil Anthony Micallef and Ruslan Kisil.

Leandro Aguirre put the Stripes ahead with a freekick which beat goalkeeper Glenn Zammit on the 10th minute.

Birkirkara had Ryan Scicluna sent off on the 35th minute after receiving two yellow cards in five minutes.

However, they continued to hold the initiative, going close to doubling the score on the 67th with an Enzo Ruiz effort hitting the crossbar.

In added time, Igor Dudarev was sent off for Gudja after receiving a second yellow card for a foul and from the resulting freekick, Aguirre beat the Gudja custodian.

BIRKIRKARA Daniel Fernandes, Enrico Pepe, Luke Montebello, Paul Mbong (46’ Enzo Ruiz), Kurt Zammit, Federico Falcone (Claudio Bonanni 40’), Ryan Scicluna, Cain Attard, Oscar Carniello, Leandro Aguirre, Jeferson Macedo (Kilian Bevis 88’).
Coach: Andre Paus

GUDJA Glenn Zammit, Louis Beland (Junior Dibola 83’), Aidan Friggieri, Rodolfo Soares, Llywelyn Cremona, Gabriel Mensah, Hubert Vella (Tensior Gusman 75’), Justin Grioli (Ruslan Kisil 62’), Igor Dudarev, Temitope Abdul (Ito Yasukaze 75’), Marcelo Dias.
Coach: Thane Micallef

Referee: Stefan Pace
Assistant Referees: Roberto Vella, Vasil Vasilev
Fourth Official: Daniel Casha
Yellow Cards: R. Scicluna, K. Zammit, D. Fernandes (B); H. Vella, I. Dudarev
Red Cards: 35’ Ryan Scicluna, 90+1’ Igor Dudarev
BOV Player of the Match: Leandro Aguirre