Superior Stripes hit five past hapless Mosta
by Ayrton Galea - 4th January 2015
Birkirkara FC started 2015 on a positive note when they easily overcome the challenge of Mosta FC on Sunday afternoon. With a convincing win of 5-1, they consolidated their second place in the BOV Premier League.
With Valletta turning the match around to register a 3-2 victory over Qormi, all pressure was on the Stripes to keep the pace, and the latter did an excellent job when without sweating much, they easily defeated a depleted Mosta side to register their fourth win in the last five matches.
It was a match where the Stripes enjoyed an edge right from the start and the outstanding display of their forward foreign trio of Morais, Ledesma and Shodiya proved to be too much for the Blues, as all the Birkirkara forwards put their name on the scoring sheet with Shodiya netting a brace while Ledesma was voted the BOV Player of the Match.
Birkirkara were boosted with the return of the three key players, Paul Fenech, Ryan Scicluna and Rafael Ledesma, who replaced Gareth Sciberras, Edward Herrera and Alejandro Mendoza, in the starting line up.
The offensive 4-3-3 formation featured Haber defending the posts, Vukanac and Bissi forming the central-backs with Camenzuli and Muscat patrolling the side-backs. The midfield trio was composed of Agius, Fenech and Scicluna, while the forward line featured the foreign trio of Ledesma, Morais and Shodiya.
Missing for the Stripes from the eighteen-man squad were the injured Gareth Sciberras, Eliandro Gonzaga and Leighton Grech.
The First Half
The Stripes, knowing that only a win will do, made their intentions clear as early as the third minute. Shodiya served Morais who had his fierce strike from outside the box ending over. Three minutes later, Ledesma delivered a threatening corner kick that saw Shodiya heading over.
Mosta could have been awarded a penalty kick on the fourteenth minute when Matheus Bissi fell, and seemed to have touched the ball from Matheus Dos Santos' shot, but Referee Alan Mario Sant waved play on.
From the following action, Birkirkara surged ahead. They were quick to move the ball forward in the path of Paul Fenech, who served Rafael Ledesma, who in turn unleashed a powerful strike that hit hard past the Mosta goalkeeper, Omar Borg.
The Stripes, enjoying possession thanks to their hard-working midfield trio of Fenech Scicluna and Agius, went close to doubling the lead on the twenty-second minute. Agius sent Morais on the run, who had his low strike turned into a corner kick by goalkeeper Borg.
Birkirkara kept pushing forward and they went close to scoring again two minutes later. Shodiya sent an excellent through-ball in the path of Ledesma who raced forward and was unlucky to see his cross-shot hitting the crossbar before ending into a goal-kick.
The superiority of the Stripes failed to alert the Blues and it was no surprise that they doubled the lead on the thirty-third minute. A corner-kick by Edmond Agius fell in the feet of Rafael Ledesma, who sent another dangerous cross, with Shodiya raising high to hit past Borg.
Ten minutes from time Zach Muscat almost increased further the lead, when he dribbled past his marker, and hit a powerful shot that scratched past the post. Mosta's weak reaction a minute later consisted of a direct free-kick by Matheus Dos Santos, that ended wide off the second post.
The Stripes' superiority continued to be crystal clear, and they made them three on the fourteenth minute. Nikola Vukanac showed great vision from the back, when he found the useful Ellinton Morais unmarked, who dribbled past Borg, and had the routine task of slotting home into an empty net.
However, Mosta were quick to pull one back just a minute later. Matheus Bissi gave away possession to Matheus Dos Santos, who raced forward and his shot was blocked by Vukanac, only for the ball to bounce back to Sasa Jovanovic who beat the Birkirkara goalkeeper Justin Haber with a low shot.
The first half, which produced no less than four goals, found the Stripes heading to their dressing rooms leading comfortably with a 3-1 score.
The Second Half
There was a slow start to the second half, but the Stripes continued where they left off in the first forty-five minutes. Five minutes into the second half, Shola Shodiya made one of his mazy runs, before his in-swinging shot ended over.
Mosta seemed to be back into the reckoning, by scoring their second goal, when James Brincat hit home from the rebound after Haber blocked a shot by Matheus Dos Santos, but in a controversial decision, the assistant referee flagged for offside and the goal was not awarded.
Mr. Paul Zammit was forced to utilise his first substitution on the hour mark when Ellinton Morais have landed badly on his ankle and was unable to continue playing. Kurt Zammit replaced the Brazilian striker.
There was no change in the rhythm of the match as the Stripes continued to dictate matters and they went close twice, in space of three minutes from identical free-kicks. First it was Rafael Ledesma that saw his first-post direct free-kick parried by Borg in two attempts and three minutes later, Bissi had a fierce free-kick ending over.
The Stripes kept pushing forward and the vulnerable Mosta defence was once again caught on the wrong foot on the seventy-eighth minute, and Shola Shodiya made them four with a powerful strike after exchanging possession with Ledesma.
Four quickly became five on the eighty-second minute when Omar Borg rushed to punch the ball into safety, but the ball landed at the feet of Paul Fenech, who with great composure lobbed the ball over the Mosta goalkeeper for Birkirkara's fifth goal.
Two Under-19's Team player made their debut with the Senior Team in the final seven minutes of the match. On the eighty-third minute, Beppe Jaccarini replaced Edmond Agius and two minutes later, the Under-19's Team Captain, Dylan Aquilina replaced Rafael Ledesma.
Referee Alan Mario Sant's full-time whistle found the Stripes consolidating their joint second place with Valletta.
BIRKIRKARA: Justin Haber, Zach Muscat, Matheus Bissi, Nikola Vukanac, Ryan Camenzuli, Ryan Scicluna, Edmond Agius (83' Beppe Jaccarini), Paul Fenech, Rafael Ledesma (85' Dylan Aquilina), Shola Shodiya, Ellinton Morais (60' Kurt Zammit).
MOSTA: Omar Borg, Matteo Divita, Kurt Magro, Mark Brincat, Karl Pulo, Ryan Grech (90+2' Dexter Xuereb), Nemanja Milovanovic, Aaron Sammut (83' Dyson Falzon), Matheus Dos Santos, James Brincat (71' Zachary Brincat), Sasa Javonovic.
Referee: Alan Mario Sant.
Assistant Referee: Edward Spiteri, William Debattista.
Fourth Official: Andre Arciola.
Yellow Cards: Nemanja Milovanovic, Omar Borg (Mosta).
Scorers: 15' Rafael Ledesma, 33' Shola Shodiya, 40' Ellinton Morais, 78' Shola Shodiya, 82' Paul Fenech (Birkirkara), 41' Sasa Javonovic (Mosta).
BOV Player of the Match: Rafael Ledesma (Birkirkara).
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