Floriana sink Birkirkara in a deeper crisis

by Ayrton Galea - 29th January 2012

Birkirkara's disappointing streak continued yesterday afternoon when they suffered another crucial defeat against Floriana with a 1-0 score.

It was a boring match as goal-scoring opportunities were very rare, with Floriana scoring from the only dangerous attack throughout the whole game. The clear problem and main weakness that we have been mentioning for the last weeks was once again clear to notice. Moises Avila Perez, the only striker for Birkirkara was too isolated to create any danger. This was the fourth game out of sixth in this round that 'The Stripes' failed to score a goal.

Mr. Paul Zammit did not start with the usual 4-3-3 formation; instead he opted fr a more defensive 4-5-1 formation, with the aim to win the battle in the midfield. One can say that his plan succeeded to a point, as Birkirkara were dominant in possession but they failed to make the best of it. Regillio Nooitmeer was making his debut with our Club, and he had a fine performance.

Following the series of disappointing results, Birkirkara Ultras wanted to deliver a message. Instead of giving their continuous support as usual, they displayed a banner with the wording, "Meta tirritorna l-qalb, jirritornaw l-Ultras - Isthu” which losely translates to "When the spirit returns, the Ultras will come back - Shame on you!

The First Half

Birkirkara were dominant right from the start, winning the midfield battle and continually creating pressure on the Floriana's defence. However it was only on very rare occasions that 'The Stripes' managed to conclude their action.

In the first and most dangerous action of the first half, Paul Fenech fired a long distance powerful shot on the ninth minute which was neutralised by Manuel Bartolo with difficulty.

Four minutes later, on the 13th minute, a freekick from an ideal position outside the box saw Rodrigo Pereira's effort going over the bar.

On the 21st minute, Angus Buhagiar managed to round two players but his shot was parried by Manuel Bartolo.

Jorge Santos Silva almost surprised Manuel Bartolo on the 35th minute. After a corner shot taken by Shaun Bajada, the Brazilian winger saw his diagonal shot blocked by Manuel Bartolo.

In the last action of the first half, Pablo Doffo tried his luck with a long distance direct freekick but Reuben Gauci easily saved the effort.

The Second Half

In the second half we saw Floriana doing the most important thing in football, which is to score. The first and only goal for Floriana was enough for them to extend their positive run and place Birkirkara in a deeper crisis.

In the first serious attack for Floriana in the game, on the hour mark, they took the lead. From a long cross from the back by Pablo Doffo, Christian Caruana anticipated Angus Buhagiar, who passed to Ivan Woods inside the box who found no difficulty to place the ball in the net.

Mr. Zammit tried to put everything forward as Rodrigo Pereira ended up behind the strikers. Striker Terence Vella replaced the injured Rowen Muscat and he introduced Leighton Grech in the fray to give more speed on the flank.

Seven minutes from time, Shaun Bajada sent a dangerous cross but it was too powerful for Moises Avila Perez who attempted a flying header but failed to connect with the ball. The last moments of the game saw Floriana defending well to extend their positive run and worsen Birkirkara's crisis.

Birkirkara: Reuben Gauci, Angus Buhagiar, Regillio Nooitmeer, Rodrigo Pereira, Shaun Bajada, Rowen Muscat (76' Terence Vella), Paul Fenech, Jorge Santos Silva, Gareth Sciberras, Ryan Scicluna (80' Leighton Grech), Moises Avila Perez

Floriana: Manuel Bartolo, Owen Bugeja, Duncan Pisani, Manolito Micallef, Pablo Doffo, Christian Cassar (87' Ryan Darmanin), Christian Caruana, Andrew Grabowski (79' John Mintoff), Ivan Woods, Clyde Borg (45' Joseph Borg), Thomas Paris

Yellow Cards: Rowen Muscat, Ryan Scicluna, Shaun Bajada (Birkirkara), Owen Bugeja (Floriana)

Man of the match: Ivan Woods

comments powered by Disqus