Birkirkara and Hamrun share the spoils

by Ayrton Galea - 30th October 2010

For the third consecutive game, Birkirkara failed to grab maximum points as yesterday night, they were held in a 1-1 draw by Hamrun Spartans.

There was a vast improvement in our team's performance compared to the last match when we lost 5-2 against Marsaxlokk. Yesterday 'The Stripes' gave their all, and one might be excused for blaming bad luck for not taking the 3 points from the match.

Head Coach Mr. Paul Zammit did three changes in the formation from the last match. Michael Fraser made his debut by replacing Manuel Bartolo in between the posts, Andrew Decesare replaced Ryan Harding and the youngster Ryan Scicluna started the match instead of Emiliano Lattes.

Lady Luck started making things difficult for Birkirkara after just eight minutes, when Trevor Cilia had suffered a hamstring injury, which will probably keep him out of the play between three and four weeks. Emiliano Lattes entered the field to replace Cilia.

Hamrun had their first attempt when Marcelo Perreira served Peter Anizoba on the left but the latter's attempt was blocked by the Scottish goalkeeper and deflected into a corner kick.

Ryan Scicluna almost break the deadlock when from a cross on the left, he flicked the ball but the shot ended just wide.

Birkirkara took the lead on the 23rd minute when a freekick from the right by Andrew Decesare was perfectly met by Michael Galea with header and put 'The Stripes' one up.

Hamrun equalised just three minutes later. From what appeared to be two consecutive fouls on Birkirkara players with the referee waving "play on", Peter Anizoba delivered a cross from the right. This was deflected by Perreira from close range, beating Michael Fraser and the ball ended in the net.

On the 37th minute, Paul Fenech almost repeated last week's superb goal, when his long distance shot ended just a bit wide.

The first half ended in a 1-1 draw.

The second half saw Birkirkara dominating, creating several goal scoring chances, and they were denied a penalty by the referee.

On the 65th minute a powerful shot by Marcelo Perreira was blocked by Fraser while on the other side of the pitch, Simon Zahra served Emiliano Lattes who had his fine effort deflected into a corner kick.

Four minutes later, Birkirkara could easily have scored their 2nd goal when a perfect cross by Emiliano Lattes found Michael Galea. Casha seemed to not catch the ball properly, and Michael Galea kicked a low cross but there was nobody in the area to finish off.

Karl Pulo had a golden opportunity on the 83rd minute. He had been in the pitch for only a couple of minutes having replaced Simon Zahra, when he advanced into the box but his effort was blocked by Ivan Casha.

One minute later, Massimo Grima cleared a ball from the dead line.

With the Hamrun players doing everything to waste time and kill the match, Birkirkara could do nothing better and the match ended 1-1.

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