Under 17's beaten by Pieta Hotspurs

by Jonathan Spiteri - 18th November 2012

Birkirkara Under 17s suffered their third defeat of the campaign when they were beaten by Pieta' Hotspurs 5-0 at the Rabat Ajax Ground, which is identical to the one against Paola Hibs. The Stripes were coming from a good win against Mosta, and the clan was optimistic on getting a similar result today against a though opponent.

Birkirkara started the game well and had most of the ball, even though they couldn't carve out any clear-cut chances. Pieta' were defending well and tried to operate on the counter attack. Unfortunately, on the first real chance the Blues forged ahead. This goal was like a cold shower for our lads and looked disjointed as the first half wore on. The second goal came directly from a free kick, this when the Yellow-Reds were trying to find their feet again. To make things worse, following a corner kick our defence was a bit static and Pieta' made them 3-0 just before the half time whistle. This goal made the second half a mountain to climb, as if at 2-0 it wasn't already!

Coach Mr Glumac gave his players quite a talking to at half time, and this seemed to have given them a much needed confidence injection as they pressed for a goal right from the start of the second half. Chances were coming thick and fast, with the most obvious one being when captain Kurt Zammit hit the bar with only the goalkeeper to beat. Imprecision, good goalkeeping, last ditch defending and bad luck kept Birkirkara at bay. Holding a high defensive line made it inevitable to be prone to counter attacks and this was how the forth goal was conceded. Here even the motivation of getting at least a consolation goal was to its bare minimum, and the fifth goal was conceded right at the death and was the result of some hesitant defending, much to everyone's disappointment.

Mr Glumac was obviously disappointed with the result. “I am obviously very disapointed with the result, which was probably too harsh on us especially when in the second half we had a handful of clear scoring opportunities, but there is still much to work on in order to avoid conceding so much goals. We shall work harder in order to achieve this”.

The Under 17s will be soon in action as they play Hamrun Spartans on Saturday 24th November at the Rabat Ajax Ground, kick-off time 15:00.

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