Stripes make sure in second half

Msida St Joseph 2
Birkirkara 5

High-scoring Birkirkara made it two wins out two after coming back from a goal down to beat Msida St Joseph in a goal-rich contest last night.

It was an entertaining match which could have gone either way until the Stripes finally prevailed thanks mainly to an impressive battling performance in the second half. They excelled with some fine attacking play inspired by the creative Matthew Calascione and the hard-working Adrian Ciantar.

Despite the victory, coach Stephen Azzopardi must have been worried with Birkirkara's performance, particularly in the opening 35 minutes. His players lacked any kind of organisation with their defensive backline struggling badly to contain the physical power of Daniel Nwoke and Ibrahim Babantude, the Msida forwards.

However, Azzopardi can take heart by the manner with which the team reacted when finding themselves a goal down and will hope that the players maintain the same qualities as they bid to build a consistent run, so crucial at this opening phase of the championship.

Msida must have felt hard done to have left empty-handed especially for the stiff challenge they offered in the first hour of the game. Coach Todor Raykov will have certainly been satisfied with the strong response of his players following last week's poor outing which resulted in a surprise 2-1 defeat to newcomers Mosta.

Certainly, if Msida maintain the level of performance shown for most of yesterday's match, it will not be long before they start picking valuable points that will help them fulfil their ambition of prolonging their stay in the top flight by another year.

Birkirkara had the injured Roderick Sammut, Jean Pierre Mifsud Triganza and Etienne Barbara missing but were boosted by the news that Mark Anthony Bonnici had recovered from hamstring trouble.

Raykov included Maltese-Australian midfielder Shane Tagliaferro, in place of the suspended Roderick Bajada, and Stefano Grima in lieu of Charles Sciberras who started on the bench.

It was Msida who almost grabbed an early opener. After two minutes Dino Cachia controlled Grima's long pass before firing a dangerous cross-shot that cut through the Birkir-kara defence but Nwoke failed to connect with an open goal at his mercy.

Msida kept threatening and on eight minutes Paul Fenech's long pass reached Nwoke who fell under the challenge of William Camenzuli and Kenneth Scicluna in the box. But, the referee waved play on amid the protest of the Saints players.

Four minutes later Birkirkara endured another scare when from an innocuous clearance by the Msida defence, Birkirkara goalkeeper David Simon tried to volley the ball away but completely miscued his effort and was lucky to see the ball finishing wide of his goal.

From the corner, taken by Cachia, Babantude anticipated the Stripes goalkeeper but headed over.

Msida's persistence was rewarded on 16 minutes.

Cachia put Nwoke through with an astute pass and the Nigerian forward calmly slotted the ball in past the onrushing Simon.

Birkirkara were unlucky not to pull level with their first attempt at the Msida goal on 20 minutes. Calascione beat the offside trap and with only Omar Borg to beat he fired a low shot that was stopped by the upright.

The Stripes were slowly getting more into the picture but they were struggling to create any scoring opportunities.

Twelve minutes from the break, they hit an equaliser when midfielder George Mallia was first on Bonnici's cross before planting the ball in the net.

At the start of the second half, Azzopardi roped in Michael Galea in lieu of Bonnici as he looked to increase his team's firepower. The move reaped instant dividends as barely two minutes after restart the Stripes moved ahead.

Ciantar's inswinger from a corner saw Calascione first to react and head the ball home from close in.

Msida's reply arrived on 54 minutes when Carabott's long range shot finished just over. But, three minutes later it was all square again.

Babantude charged his way through inside the opponents' defensive lines before he went down to a tackle by Camenzuli. The referee immediately pointed to the spot and from the penalty Theuma scored - 2-2.

But Birkirkara hit back strongly and only took three minutes to regain the lead.

Roderick Briffa took the ball outside the area before forcing his way through and hit a fierce low drive from a close angle that had the better of Borg.

Mallia practically made sure of Birkirkara's win on 74 minutes when he was first to a Ciantar corner kick and ably headed the ball past Borg.

Msida ran out of energy and Mallia then turned provider when four minutes from time he crossed the ball towards Ciantar who dived full stretch to head the ball home in style.

Msida: O. Borg-5, D. Carabott-6, D. Theuma-6, S. Grima-5 ('67 D. Gatt), T. Farrugia-5 ('62 C. Sciberras), J. Mifsud-5, P. Fenech-6, D. Cachia-6, D. Nwoke-7, I. Babantude-6, S. Tagliaferro-6 ('82 M. Valenzia).

Birkirkara: D. Simon-5, M.A. Bonnici-6 ('46 M. Galea-6), L. Galea-7, P. Monye-6 ('79 A. Zahra), W. Camenzuli-6, M. Calascione-8, R. Briffa-7, K. Scicluna-6, G. Mallia-8 ('87 M. Anastasi), E. Yantchev-6, A. Ciantar-7.

Referee: Kevin Azzopardi.

Scorers: Nwoke 16; Mallia 33, 74; Calascione 47; Theuma 57 pen.; Briffa 61; Ciantar 86.

Yellow Cards: Cachia, Carabott.

BoV Player of the Match: Matthew Calascione (Birkirkara).

Next Matches

Saturday - August 20
5.30 p.m. Hamrun vs Pietà
7.30 p.m. Floriana vs Hibernians

Sunday - August 21
5.30 p.m. Mosta vs Sliema
7.30 p.m. Valletta vs Msida

Monday - August 22
8 p.m. Birkirkara vs Marsaxlokk

Standings