The Malta Independent on Sunday
Birkirkara keep winning as Balzan falter
league matches as they keep their push for a top-three finish.
They have now reduced the gap between Balzan above them to only three points.
After a balanced first half, in which they had taken a narrow but deserved one-goal lead, the Stripes showed some swagger after the interval and reacted to Balzan’s equaliser, scoring twice to secure the points.
Balzan were second best for long periods. There was nothing fluent or refined about theire play yesterday and at times they looked devoid of ideas as they struggled to break down Birkirkara.
Despite wins, both coaches effected changes from the previous midweek matches.
Balzan had Ivan Janjusevic back in goal and introduced Anderson De Barros, Alan Souza and Bojan Kaljevic from the start. Christian Cassar and Lydon Micallef had to settle for substitute berths while Paul Fenech and Abdelkarim Nafti were not included in the squad.
Birkirkara meanwhile dropped James Brincat, Predrag Jovic and Miguel Alba and gave starts to Edward Herrera, Nikola Vukanac and Joseph Zerafa.
In the opening half, Balzan were forced back by a team attacking through their full backs.
The first 20 minutes provided nothing noteworthy until Fenech put a free kick wide and , on the other end, a Dimitrov free kick was held out by the stretched Balzan keeper.
On 34 minutes Souza backheeled pass found Piciollo, whose effort was blocked into a corner.
Birkirkara broke the deadlock two minutes later as Srdan Dimitrov controlled the ball inside the Balzan area and beat keeper Janjusevic witha shot on the turn.
Balzan’s response came two minutes before the break. Effiong spurned a good chance when he shot Kaljevic’s cross wide.
Birkirkara started the second half brightly. On 55 minutes keeper Janjusevic tipped Malano’s drive into a corner.
But as the Stripes were enjoying their brightest patch, Balzan hit them with an equaliser on 57 minutes. Bojan Kaljevic connected to De Barros’ cross from the right to score from close range.
Birkirkara took five more minutes top restore their lead. Dimitrov was felled by Serrano inside the Balzan area as he tried to reach for Malan’s cross. The latter stepped up to beat keeper Janjusevic from the penalty spot.
Dimitrov was forced to leave the pitch with some muscle problem after that and was replaced by Vito Plut.
Balzan tried to regroup and probed for an equaliser although they remained disjointed in their build-ups. On 80 minutes the Birkirkara keeper Bonello was called to effect a superb save off a Kaljevic effort.
But Balzan were caught woefully open as the Stripes struck on the counter six minutes from time. Herrera galloped down the left, played a through pass that beat the Balzan offside trap for Vito Plut to slide the ball past the helpless keeper.
Balzan were completely flated. de-