Solitary goal hands Balzan the points

Balzan returned to winning ways in the only match played early afternoon on Saturday as they beat neighbours Lija Athletic by a solitary goal scored by Gambian international Moussa Kamara.

Mark Miller’s boys registered a narrow win over Tarxien Rainbows in their first outing , losing narrowly to Valletta in the following match and managing a draw against Mosta in their last outing after taking a three goal lead.

Neighbours Lija collected four points which came from a 4-0 win over Senglea and a goalless draw with Birkirkara.

In between they lost to Gudja United.

Balzan were superior to their opponents but Lija kept fighting on till the end in search of a point which never materialized. All in all this match left much to be desired with both teams failing miserably especially in the first forty five minutes.

In fact the early stages of the match were balanced but neither team created any particular danger.

But it was Balzan who scored what proved to be the winning goal in the 23rd minute when Uros Ljubomirac set Moussa Kamara inside the box and the Gambian youth international slotted past a helpless Luke Bonnici.

Though Lija tried to react they found it rather difficult to break an organized Balzan rearguard. In fact it was Balzan who went near to increasing their lead through Suleiman Jalu whose shot just missed the target.

Moments later Balzan once again this time through Eric McWoods only for his shot from just outside the area missing out.

The only chance that Lija had to offer in the first half came through Fernando Brandan but goalkeeper Mintoff blocked his effort.

On resumption it was Lija who tried their luck through long range effort by Neil Micallef after a good solo run.

It was Erjon Beu’s time to have a go but his free kick sailed just over the bar.

Lija kept on insisting and in the 70th minute Micallef had his headed effort cleared off the line.

On the other end moments later Balzan came close to sealing the issue through Suleiman with Lija responding when Fernando Brendan saw his effort missed the target by a few inches.

And late in the game Luke Bonnici kept Lija in the match when he saved spectacularly a McWoods shot.

Photo: Balzan's French striker Moussa Kamara (C) about to slot home the opener on 23 minutes against Lija Athletic