Birkirkara sink in unchartered waters

Birkirkara must be praised for yet another purposeful and diligent home performance, at the noisy Hibernians Stadium, against superior opponents Krasnodar from Russia, although going down 3-0 in the third round of the UEFA Europa League.

Fully aware that reaching thus far in the competition stage, required improvement in the standard of play to cope with such hard opposition, the Stripes gave their all, which unfortunately was not enough.

But despite the strength and experience of their opponents, Birkirkara were never outclassed. They stayed composed for almost the entire first period, only to concede in added time. They showed more verve in the second period but another dip in concentration brought about the penalty for Krasnodar and a late third goal after Ryan Scicluna’s dismissal. This win now puts the Russians firmly in charge of their return leg in a week’s time.

Birkirkara coach Bresek made only one change from the starting eleven who beat Hearts the previous week. Edward Herrera, scorer of their winning goal in Scotland, who apparantly is not fully fit, made way for Dejan Djordevic. Birkirkara played with four defensive midfielders, Sciberras, Bajada, Dimitrov and Scicluna in front of their backfour and were licensed to support strikers Djodevic and Plut.

The Stripes had to work hard to keep their more illustrious opponenst at bay. In their line-up, Krasnodar had well known faces like the two Russian internationals, Dimitri Torbinkiy, a midfielder converted into a defender but with good attacking skills, as well as last season’s top goalgetter in Russia, the tall Fedor Smolov. Their captain Andreas Granqvist plays for Sweden and wide back Jedrizejczyk is a Polish international.

For all their possession in the first half, the visitors only created their first real threat on the quarter hour. Birkirkara keeper Kopric could not reach for deep free kick from Pereyra but atoned as he blocked on the line Da Silva’s tame overhead kick.

With Birkirkara closing all gaps, Krasnodar were coming up short around the Birkirkara box and were made to shoot from a distance. A Smolov effort clipped the upper side of the bar and other shots by Pereyra and Da Silva were capably dealt with by keeper Kopric.

Birkirkara, who were giving away possession too often when under pressure, hardly ventured into enemy territory but when they did they looked menacing. Dimitrov’s cross from the left in the opening minutes, was headed into a corner by Granqvist. And towards halftime, Bajada’s effort went fractionally wide from another Birkirkara corner.

But as the first half looked heading towards a stalemate, Birkirkara were caught up by Izmaylov’s long ball behind their defence. Some rash defending conceded a cornerwhich was kicked by Pereyra forStrandberg to head towards the towering Andreas Granqvist and finsih off from close range.

Birkirkara presented themselves in more lively fashion in the secod half. Their build-ups were good and more frequent but they were found wanting in the final third. Plut even skied the ball from inside the area. When Plut sent an inviting cross from the left, Djordevic was nowhere near and the chance went to waste.

On the hour, Plut got the better of his market but keeper Kritciuk saved on the ground.

Pressing hard for an equaliser, it ws time forBirkirkara to introduce Frank Temile and Mislav Andelkovic. But nothing changed tactically.

Just when the Stripes were playing their best football, they conceded a soft penalty as Marcelina tripped Da Silva inside area and Fedor Smolov tucked it away.

The match offred more misery for the locals. Four minutes from time, Ryan Scicluna was sent off for two bookings.

Down to ten men, Birkirkara conceded a third goal three minutes later as substitute Ramos Dos Santos ran insoide the area on the right and beat keeper Kopric with a low drive at the near post.