Stripes win at a canter

Birkirkara 7
St Patrick 2

Every match has its own story and St Patrick took to this game against title hopefuls Birkirkara fully aware of the Herculean task awaiting them.

Some weeks back, the Saints proved to be a tough nut to crack to leaders Sliema but yesterday they were completely swept off their feet by a slick Birkirkara side who won at a canter.

This win kept the Stripes firmly in second place alongside Valletta, both within four points of Sliema.

The match was characterised by a somewhat curious matter which only came to light in the second half. Birkirkara sported a new light grey jersey for this match and their opponents played in white gear rather than their customary yellow-black shirt.

Referee Marco Borg, wearing a yellow jersey himself, allowed the match to go on without him intervening but instructed the Saints to change their gear during the interval with the official switching to the traditional black outfit.

The end result of the match underlines the gulf that exists between the top clubs and the minnows of the top flight as the Stripes could easily have emerged winners with an even more pronounced and ruthless margin had their strikers not missed a hatful of chances.

On 14 minutes, the Stripes carved out a menacing move which should have yielded an opening goal. Roderick Briffa did all the hard work on the left flank and delivered an inviting cross towards Haruna Doda who fumbled his chance with the goal at his mercy.

Three minutes later, Birkirkara had the ball in the net only for referee Borg to annul the goal as George Mallia was deemed to have been in an offside position when meeting Chucks Nwoko's free-kick.

At the other end, the Saints nearly broke the deadlock after some sloppy defending by William Camenzuli, who headed the ball awkwardly back to Justin Haber, Peter Anizoba darted in but the Malta goalkeeper dived at his feet to prevent the Nigerian from concluding into the net.

On 21 minutes, Birkirkara thought they had scored a legitimate goal as Nwoko towered above the shaky Franklin Azzopardi with the ball rolling gently into the net but for the second time, the goal was overruled for an infringement by the Birkirkara forward.

At the third time of asking, Stephen Azzopardi's lads were in front. The strike owed much to Michael Galea's relentless running as the forward chipped an inch-perfect cross towards Mallia who rounded Azzopardi and planted the ball into the corner of the net.

Midway through the first half, Anizoba outpaced Dronca and drilled a low cross towards the unmarked Patrick Muscat only for Precious Monye to clear the ball for a corner.

The ensuing corner sent fresh shockwaves into the usually sturdy Stripes' defence as Robert Cassar nipped in with a sizzling shot that brought the best out of Haber.

On 37 minutes, Birkirkara were awarded a penalty after Simon Zerafa wrestled Galea to the ground. Dronca doubled Birkirkara's lead.

On the stroke of half-time, the Stripes rearguard displayed an unusual sense of insecurity as Muscat won a ball in the penalty area but he fluffed his chance.

The Stripes wrapped up the formalities with the third goal early in the second half as Doda picked up a ball in midfield, surged past a lifeless defence and blasted a low shot from the edge of the penalty area that beat Azzopardi.

Just before the hour, Galea broke free inside the penalty area and his effort from an acute angle was saved by Azzopardi.

In an isolated foray midway through the second half, the Saints reduced the deficit as Kevin Bonnici served substitute Thomas Caruana who beat Haber with a header.

If the Saints harboured any hopes of staging a comeback, these were soon dismissed as the Stripes added another four goals to emerge runaway winners. On 72 minutes, Nwoko slotted the ball towards Galea who scored with a simple tap-in.

With the minutes ticking away, St Patrick fell further behind as Doda and substitute Alan Tabone struck two goals within a minute.

In the final quarter, Doda took his chance with a cross-shot that took a deflection off a defender, the ball gliding into goal. Tabone got a touch to it but the goal was credited to his Nigerian striking partner.

Hardly a minute had passed when Tabone was at hand to head home after receiving from Camenzuli.

Three minutes from time, the rout was completed by Antoine Zahra who fired a low shot past Azzopardi.

In added time, substitute Mark Tanti scored a second goal for the demoralised Saints with virtually the last kick of the game.

Birkirkara: J. Haber-6, M.A. Bonnici-6, P. Monye-6, W. Camenzuli-7, H. Doda-8, M. Galea-8, C. Nwoko-8 ('73 R. Sammut), A. Zahra-7, L. Dronca-5 ('46 L. Galea-6), R. Briffa-7 ('59 A. Tabone-7), G. Mallia-7.

St Patrick: F. Azzopardi-4, P. Muscat-4 ('59 T. Caruana-5), R. Cassar-5, A. Buttigieg -5 ('64 M. Tanti-5), M. Zerafa-4 ('46 S. Costa Brazilino-4), A. Galea-5, C. Failla-5, G. Failla-5, K. Bonnici-6, B. Fenech-5, P. Anizoba-6.

Referee: Marco Borg.

Scorers: Mallia 24; Dronca 38 Pen.; Doda 51, 76; Caruana 65; M. Galea 72; Tabone 77; Zahra 87; Tanti 90.

Yellow Cards: Buttigieg; Briffa; C. Failla; Azzopardi; Anizoba.

Player Of The Match: Haruna Doda (Birkirkara).