A draw not enough for Birkirkara to qualify

by Ayrton Galea - 8th July 2011

Birkirkara were eliminated from the 1st qualifying round of the Europa League with heads held high. Yesterday evening Birkirkara registered a 1-1 draw in Albania, which was not enough to qualify as F.K. Vllaznia went through with a 2-1 aggregate.

Going to the match with a one goal disadvantage definitely was not an easy task to over come. However the players did a good job as they were the most aggressive side in the match. If Birkirkara had qualified they would not have stolen anything as they gave their maximum effort .

Mr. Patrick Curmi made two changes from the first leg match played an in Malta as Leighton Grech and David Silva started the match instead of Andrei Agius and Andrew Decesare to go out for this game with a 4-4-2 formation.

After just four minutes Birkirkara's task got evenharder as like the first leg 'The Stripes' conceded an early goal as Armando Vajushi manage to beat Mora.

Birkirkara tried to react to this shocking goal in the early stages of the match and they managed to come back on the 17th minute when David Silva managed to equalise and gives new hopes to Birkirkara.

After this goal Vllaznia went all out to try and take the lead once again and the pressed the Birkirkara defence, but 'The Stripes' defended well especially in corners and free kicks which seemed to be their best chance to take the lead.

The first half ended in a 1-1 draw, with Birkirkara being the better team and believing in qualifying.

In the second half Birkirkara went out searching for the goal they needed to qualify as in the last moments they put everything forward and pressed really hard for the 'qualifying goal' which never arrived due to fine defending from Vllaznia.

Mr. Patrick Curmi made the first change on the 66th minute as Alan Tabone replaced Trevor Cilia who had a satisfactory and improved performance from the first leg.

Ryan Camenzuli made his UEFA competitions debut on the 75th minute when he replaced Jacopo Camilli to be one of the youngest Birkirkara players to play in a UEFA match.

In the final minutes Birkirkara put everything forward in search of the goal they needed to qualify with David Silva being the most dangerous player in the last few minutes.

The full time whistle found Birkirkara eliminated due to the soft goal conceded in Malta, which however does not decduct from the positive performance and result in Albania.

The Birkirkara FC contingent will be back in Malta today afternoon at around 13:00.

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