Virano hands Senglea a late winner

winner, to increase Birkirkara’s woes as now Senglea are three points in front of the stripes.

The performance of Birkirkara in Paul Zammit’s return last game wasn’t five-star, and a confirmation was expected in this game. But the performance was similar to last week and Zammit has a lot of work to do in order to prepare a team to fight in the upper position of the table.

Paul Zammit made two changes from the game against Mosta, as Matthew Guillaumier started instead of Llywelyn Cremona, while Mulemo Landry had a solid debut in defence. On the other side, Steve D’Amato kept faith in the same team that defeated Lija Athletic last week.

Birkirkara held the initiative in the first half but failed to create any serious danger towards Timothy Aquilina. In fact they only had one shot on target near the end of the first half from Matthew Guillaumier, but his effort from outside the box was saved with no difficulty.

Senglea didn’t create any real trouble for Philip Schranz, but had some insidious attacks that failed to be capitalised due to bad passes in the third zone of the pitch.

The second half kept the same rhythm and Birkirkara had the best chance in the 64th minute, as Matthew Guillaumier received a good through ball from Mislav Andelkovic, dribbled past Steve Bonnici but his shot finished over the bar. The Stripes had another chance a minute later, with a low diagonal shot from Jake Grech that finished inches off target.

Senglea could have opened the score fifteen minutes from the end of the game but Rene Caseres failed to tap in from the small box after a cross from the left side. Birkirkara kept pressing to find the goal, and six minutes later, Ryan Camenzuli tried with a shot from outside the penalty area, but Aquilina was concentrated to save.

Birkirkara were punished in the least moment that they expected it.

Four minutes from time, Ivan Paz crossed from the left side to Nicolas Virano who fired past his opponents and goalkeeper Philip Schranz in the bottom right corner. Paul Zammit’s team continued to attack in order to save at least a point, but didn’t have much time left, as Senglea defended bravely, kicking every ball at the far end to claim a precious win.