Five-star Stripes demolish City

by Ayrton Galea - 20th October 2014

Birkirkara FC turned on the heat on Sunday evening when with an undoubtedly the best display in this BOV Premier League, they defeated Valletta FC with a 2-0 score and narrowed the gap to four points with leaders Hibernians FC.

Birkirkara's league campaign has been rated as a hot and cold campaign after inconsistency stalled the Stripes progress with two defeats but yesterday the team gave a five-star performance.

With leaders Hibernians dropping their first points in a 1-1 draw against Tarxien Rainbows on Saturday evening, the importance of this match increased drastically. Birkirkara managed to grab the three precious points to narrow the gap to four points with Hibernians, before they face off next Saturday.

The victory was well deserved by the Stripes, who following a slow start managed to improve and show superiority over the Citizens to score a goal in each half by Ledesma and Morais. Birkirkara were tactically perfect as they left Valletta no space at the back while they were deadly up-front.

The Stripes had Gareth Sciberras still missing but Ryan Camenzuli and Ellinton Morais both recovered in time. Shola Shodiya started the match on the bench while Eliandro Gonzaga and Vyacheslav Shevchenko were omitted from the eighteen-man squad.

Mr. Paul Zammit shifted his formation to a 3-1-4-2 formation. Haber defended the posts while the three-line defence featured Muscat, Mendoza and Vukanac. Bissi started in front of the defence, supporting midfielders Paul Fenech and Ryan Scicluna. Herrera and Camenzuli patrolled the wing-backs while the forward line featured the Brazilian duo Ledesma and Morais.

The First Half

The match had a slow start. Both teams utilised the opening minutes to study their opponents and the early minutes saw a scoring opportunity for each side. After Valletta goalkeeper, Nick Vella pushed away Ledesma's corner kick on the second minute, Briffa replied for Valletta by heading wide off a Terra's cross.

Valletta were the first team to settle down and were enjoying slightly more possession and better ideas. On the thirteenth minute, Steve Borg supplied a through ball in direction of Alex Terra who advanced but only to see his shot hitting the side netting.

The Stripes settled down and began to produce better football. On the fifteenth minute, Paul Fenech contributed with a solo-action as he raced forward inside the box but saw his shot ending wide. Just a minute later, Ledesma had a half-volley parried by goalkeeper Vella after being served by Bissi.

Birkirkara kept the Valletta defence on its toes when they went close to taking the lead. Ledesma's cross failed to be dealt by the Citizens but Mendoza saw his close-range effort blocked by the Valletta goalkeeper as they continued to show the best ideas.

The Stripes surged ahead on the thirty-first minute. Valletta committed a foul a few metres outside the box. Rafael Ledesma took a perfect free-kick to surprise Nick Vella and put the Stripes in the lead.

Valletta were left stunned. Five minutes from half time, Rafael Ledesma continued to create problems to the Citizens, when his second-post cross, saw Morais failing to connect in front of goal.

Birkirkara were unlucky not to make them two, three minutes from half-time as Valletta's struggle continued to be evident. Herrera penetrated down the right flank before cutting inside the box, and his cross-shot was blocked by Vella. From the rebound, Camenzuli's powerful effort came off the cross bar.

Referee Trustin Farrugia Cann's half-time whistle found the Stripes heading to their dressing room enjoying a one-goal lead while blaming their luck for not having doubled their lead.

The Second Half

Under-pressure Citizens had no other option than to come out searching for the equalising goal. Despite coming to the second half as the better side, they failed to test the Birkirkara goalkeeper.

Having most of the possession and Birkirkara deployed in their own half, Valletta seemed to be making a reaction, but it was only Ellford-Alliyu who managed to have an attempt for the Citizens, but his shot flew over.

The Citizens' woes increased as Birkirkara produced an excellent build-up to double their lead and dash their rival's hopes twenty minutes into the second half. It was a quick passing movement with Ledesma flicking the ball in direction of Scicluna. Goalkeeper Vella rushed out, Scicluna served Morais who had a routine task of slotting home in an empty net.

It was the killer-blow for Valletta, who never gave the impression that they could make any sort of comeback, and it was the Stripes who could have increased their lead. On the seventy-second minute, Camenzuli stole the ball off the erratic Caruana and delivered the ball in the path of Ledesma who saw his brilliant volley scratching past the post.

This was Ledesma's last contribution as in the first substitution for the Stripes, as Shola Shodiya took his place, while receiving a standing ovation for his brilliant performance.

Shodiya was quickly involved in action, when fifteen minutes from time he dribbled past his marker to hit a long-distance shot from distance, but his effort was parried by goalkeeper Vella.

In Birkirkara's second substitution, ten minutes from time, Edmond Agius replaced the tireless Ryan Camenzuli who played a splendid match down the left flank.

The Stripes had another dangerous attack two minutes from time. Morais served Herrera on the run, who raced forward, but Vella saved his powerful low strike.

In Birkirkara's third and last substitution, Leighton Grech replaced Ellinton Morais, who received a big applause from the Birkirkara supporters for his excellent display.

The full-time whistle found Birkirkara narrowing the gap with Hibernians to four points, with the Birkirkara supporters deservingly applauding their players for their five-star performance.

Hard-working, and key asset for the Stripes, Paul Fenech was voted as the BOV Player of the Match.

BIRKIRKARA: Justin Haber, Zach Muscat, Nikola Vukanac, Alejandro Mendoza, Edward Herrera, Ryan Camenzuli (80' Ryan Camenzuli), Matheus Bissi, Edward Herrera, Paul Fenech, Ryan Scicluna, Rafael Ledesma (72' Shola Shodiya), Ellinton Morais (90' Leighton Grech).

VALLETTA: Nicholas Vella, Jonathan Caruana, Luke Dimech, Steve Borg, Ryan Camilleri, Roderick Briffa (79' Ian Zammit), Ryan Fenech (65' Abdelkarim Nafti), Hugo Faria, Shaun Bajada, Hamza Barry, Alex Barboza Terra (22' Lateef Elford-Alliyu).

Referee: Trustin Farrugia Cann.

Assistant Referees: Jurgen Spiteri , David Castillo.

Additional Assistant Referees: Mario Apap, Fyodor Zammit.

Fourth Official: Thomas Debono.

Yellow Cards: 55' Paul Fenech, 66' Ellinton Morais (Birkirkara), 35' Luke Dimech, 85' Steve Borg, 90' Hugo Faria (Valletta).

Scorers: 31' Rafael Ledesma, 65' Ellinton Morais (Birkirkara).

BOV Player of the Match: Paul Fenech (Birkirkara).

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