Stripes return to winning ways
by Ayrton Galea - 4th January 2017
Birkirkara FC returned to winning ways in the BOV Premier League when on Wednesday evening, they produced a commanding performance to defeat Mosta FC with a 2-0 score thanks to a goal in each half by Vito Plut and Predrag Jovic.
The Stripes got back on track with a satisfactory performance as they were streets in-front of their opponents. It was a well deserved victory for the Stripes which mark the first victory of Coach Nikola Jaros.
It was a match that saw the Stripes dominating for long stretches who could also win with a bigger margin. The signing of Gonzalo Malan seemed to inject fresh ideas in the attacking department and the Uruguayan striker left a very good impression in his first match.
Srdjan Dimitrov returned with a rich performance and he was voted the BOV Player of the Match while Vito Plut and Predrag Jovic both had a fine display and put their name on the scoring sheet. Ini Akpan registered a satisfactory clean-sheet in his first appearance this season.
Thanks to this much needed victory, the Stripes heaved a sigh of relief and they are now alone in the fifth place as they moved three points over Sliema Wanderers and closed the gap with Floriana to just two points.
Coach Nikola Jaros handed the debut to the Club's latest Gonzalo Malan as the towering forward led the attack while Srdjan Dimitrov and Nikola Vukanac returned from suspension to regain a place in the first-eleven selection. Goalkeeper Ini Akpan made his first appearance this season.
The Croatian Coach fielded a 4-2-3-1 formation with the towering forward Malan leading the attack. Temile and Plut patrolled the wings at the either side of Srdjan Dimitrov while Andelkovic and Sciberras composed the midfield. Jovic and Vukanac formed the centre-backs while Attard and Zerafa started on the side-backs.
The First Half
Debutant forward Gonzalo Malan was involved in the first decent scoring opportunity after eighteen minutes. The towering forward won possession inside the Mosta's halve pitch and sent Dimitrov through but his fierce shot from a good position ended over the bar.
The Stripes surged ahead on the twenty-fifth minute. Frank Temile delivered an excellent low cross from the right that saw the ball travelling across the box to reach Vito Plut who in a perfect position inside the box hit home past goalkeeper Yenz Cini.
Malan continued to show altruism instincts when he produced another fine assist on the half-hour mark when he lobbed the ball over the Blues' defence to put Zerafa in an excellent position inside the box but the left-back's powerful shot ended over.
The Stripes went close to double the lead on the thirty-fourth minute but Dimitrov's deflected shot scratched past the post with Cini beaten while two minutes later, Kemair Reid had a direct free-kick totally missing the target from a good position.
The Second Half
Birkirkara threatened twice in the opening stages of the second half when first Temile shot over while moments later, Malan stole possession inside the box and served Sciberras but goalkeeper Cini did well to nuetralise his attempt on goal.
The Stripes went close again on the fifty-sixth minute. Temile had his shot blocked by Cini and from the rebound, Malan served Dimitrov with an eye-catching back-heel but the Serbian technical player had his low shot saved by Cini.
Birkirkara had a goal very controversial cancelled for an offside position when off a cross from the right, Dimitrov hit home but but the goal was cancelled for a controversial offside position.
The Stripes got rewarded for their efforts when they doubled their lead on the sixty-fourth minute. A free-kick by Dimitrov from the left saw Predrag Jovic on the first post connecting well from the set-piece to hit home past Cini.
Mosta were stunned and they almost gifted Birkirkara the third goal on the sixty-seventh minute when Cain Attard's curling cross in direction of Malan was deflected by the Mosta defender with the ball beating Cini but hit the crossbar and into a corner kick.
Kemar Reid tried to surprise Ini Akpan with a long-distance lob twenty minutes from time but his effort ended wide while six minutes Gareth Sciberras had a fierce shot from inside the box deflected into a corner kick.
From the resulting corner, Dimitrov's second-post corner kick saw Vukanac heading the ball towards Malan who hit a powerful header but goalkeeper Cini produced an excellent save to deny the towering forward from crowning his rich performance with a goal.
The Stripes kept pushing forward and created a number of scoring chances but Yenz Cini produced a string of fine saves to keep the score as low as possible for the Blues.
Technical midfielder Srdjan Dimitrov was voted as the BOV Player of the Match.
BIRKIRKARA: Ini Akpan, Gareth Sciberras, Mislav Andelkovic, Srdjan Dimitrov (83' Ryan Scicluna), Gonzalo Malan (88' Shaun Bajada), Vito Plut (90' Matteo Desira Buttigieg), Nikola Vukanac, Frank Temile, Joseph Zerafa, Cain Attard, Predrag Jovic.
MOSTA: Yenz Cini, Francis Onwudinso (80' Kyle Gatt), Kemmu Degran Jackson, Kurt Magro, Lucky Victor Oseghale, Kyle Frendo (46' Neil Frendo), Kevain Atkinson, Zachary Brincat (69' Luca Martinelli), Gabriel Bezak, Dany Djoufack, Kemar Reid.
Referee: Fyodor Zammit.
Assistant Referees: Paul Apap, Peter Abela.
Fourth Official: Stefan Pace.
Yellow Cards: 4' Kevain Atkinson, 45+1' Joseph Zerafa, 63' Zachary Brincat.
Scorers: 25' Vito Plut, 64' Predrag Jovic.
BOV Player of the Match: Srdjan Dimitrov.
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