SENGLEA ATHLETIC      2

Micallef 78 pen.

Wilkson 90

BALZAN            2

Majdevac 12 pen., 62

Senglea Athletic showed remarkable fighting spirit as the Cottonera side came back from two goals down to salvage a point against Balzan at the Centenary Stadium.

It looked as though Balzan had the three points wrapped up in the bag when they surged into a two-goal lead courtesy of their young Serbian striker Andrija Majdevac.

But in football you need to have the diligence to kill off your opponents and Balzan were found wanting in the final 15 minutes of the match as after seeing Senglea pulling a goal back through a Manolito Micallef penalty they seemed to run out gas.

In fact it was Senglea who ended the match on top with Wilkson grabbing a dramatic equalizer in stoppage time that earned his team a valuable point.

Balzan were off to a positive start as they managed to break the deadlock after only 12 minutes of play. Ricardo Correa was upended in the area by Sigitas Olberkis with referee Alan Mario Sant pointing to the spot.

Andrija Majdevac stepped up for the kick and sent Matthew Farrugia the wrong way.

Senglea’s response was rather sterile with their best effort coming on 25 minutes when Anderson Carneiro avoided his marker but his firm drive flew over.

Scoring chances remained few and far between in what was turning out to be a stale match.

Balzan finally threatened on 40 minutes when from a free-kick action, Augustine Loof connected to Correa’s delivery but his header was cleared of the line by Mirko Todorovic and from the rebound Michael Johnson fired wide from close in.

On the restart, Senglea seemed to step up the ante as for much as the opening 15 minutes they managed to camp themselves into the Balzan half. However, they still struggled to test Sean Mintoff in the Balzan goal.

Instead it was Balzan who wrapped up the points on 62 minutes when Majdevac showed great skill to move past his marker and hit a thumping drive that flew into the net.

It could have been even worse for Sengela on 68 minutes when Pisani’s delivery from a corner came off the upright and Majdevac’s header was cleared away by Carneiro.

At the other end, the Cottonera side were also denied by the woodwork as from a Leighton Grech corner-kick, Wilkson’s header came off the post before Balzan cleared.

Senglea did pull a goal back on 77 minutes when goalkeeper Mintoff was adjudged to have found Wilfried Zamble in an attempt to punch the ball away. From the resultant penalty, Manolito Micallef fired the ball home.

That goal spurred Senglea to continue to push forward and with Balzan unable to find a third ‘killer’ goal the inevitable happened in the first minute of stoppage time.

Jan Tanti whipped in a cross towards the far post where Wilkson was on hand to push the ball into the net to the delight of the Senglea fans.

Balzan's Andrija Majdevac was named BOV Player of the match.