Stripes cruise past Rainbows
by Ayrton Galea - 6th April 2015
Birkirkara FC extended their unbeaten run to sixteen matches, as with little difficulty they defeated Tarxien Rainbows with a 2-0 score, thanks to first-half goals by Nikola Vukanac and Shola Shodiya.
Birkirkara struggled to find their feet in the opening moments of the first half, but once they stepped-up their display they were all over their opponents and two first-half goals were enough to remain on the right track.
Birkirkara's first-eleven selection only featured three foreigners namely central-back duo Vukanac and Mazzetti while Shodiya started-up front. Ellinton Morais is still recovering from an injury while Ledesma started on the bench with Matheus Bissi and Nassir Maachi. Gonzaga and Hamzabegovic were left out of the squad.
The 4-2-3-1 formation featured Haber defending the posts with Mazzetti and Vukanac forming the central-backs, with Zach Muscat and Zerafa on the side-backs. Fenech and Rowen Muscat started in front of the defence while Fenech, Camenzuli and Herrera as the midfield trio. Shodiya was the only striker for the Stripes.
The First Half
The match had a slow start, with Tarxien showing composure at the back and they threatened first after sixteen minutes thanks to a central shot by Jorge Pereira which was saved by Justin Haber.
The Stripes lacked creativity in the opening twenty minute, and despite showing some fine moves, they failed to test goalkeeper Sean Mintoff. The runs from wingers Camenzuli and Herrera seemed to be the only threat to the Rainbows.
On the twenty-third minute, Ryan Camenzuli received Zach Muscat's cross, and he showed great balance to dribble past his marker, but his low strike was denied by Mintoff.
The Stripes broke the deadlock on the twenty-sixth minute. Ryan Scicluna sent an accurate free-kick on the second post to see Vukanac heading past the Rainbows goalkeeper.
Ryan Scicluna raced forward in a fast transition, and then served Herrera, who sent a cross to Shodiya, but his header was saved by Mintoff.
The Rainbows had an isolated scoring opportunity three minutes later when Eduardo Vallecillo did well to drift inside the box but his low strike was saved by Haber. Birkirkara's quick reaction saw a fierce volley by Scicluna hitting the side-netting.
Birkirkara doubled the lead on the thirty-ninth minute. They penetrated on the right side thanks to Zach Muscat before the solid defender sent an excellent cross to Shodiya, who remained calm and headed past goalkeeper Mintoff.
Two could have become three when Shodiya beat the offside trap to collect a long pass two minutes from half-time but the Nigerian's close-range effort scratched past the post. The end of the first half found the Stripes leading with two.
The Second Half
Tarxien threatened first in the second half with a shot by Vallecillo from outside the box, which ended over. The Stripes replied with a dangerous cross by Herrera with Camenzuli failing to hit with an attempted spectacular scissor kick.
The Rainbows had another goal scoring opportunity just before the hour mark, as Obinna Darlington had a diagonal shot ending wide, while a minute later Camenzuli had a shot ending over the bar.
The Stripes suffered a set-back twenty minutes from time when Nikola Vukanac sustained a hamstring injury and was unable to continue playing, with Nassir Maachi replacing the Serbian defender. This change led to some tactical adjustments as Zach Muscat moved as central-back, Herrera was deployed to right-back while Maachi was inserted on the right wing.
Obinna Darlington hit a low shot past by Haber but goal was cancelled for an offside position.
Mr. Paul Zammit made the second and third change in quick succession. On the seventy-fourth minute, Ryan Camenzuli who seemed to have received a knock just moments before, was replaced with Matheus Bissi while four minutes later, Shola Shodiya, scorer of the second goal, was replaced with Rafael Ledesma.
With Birkirkara remaining in control of possession, the Rainbows looked weak to make any sort of reaction bar a brilliant save of Haber at the dying stages and Birkirkara held on to a 2-0 victory, to consolidate their second place while keeping the pace with the leaders.
Tireless midfielder Paul Fenech was voted as the BOV Player of the Match.
BIRKIRKARA: Justin Haber, Joseph Zerafa, Nikola Vukanac (70' Nassir Maachi), Mauricio Mazzetti, Zach Muscat, Ryan Camenzuli (74' Matheus Bissi), Rowen Muscat, Ryan Scicluna, Paul Fenech, Edward Herrera, Shola Shodiya (78' Rafael Ledesma).
TARXIEN:Sean Mintoff, Kane Farrugia, Manuel Caruana, Jorge Yepes Roda, Triston Caruana, Firas Aboulezz (69' Luke Zahra), Eduardo Vallecillo, Jose Angel Pereira, Matthew Tabone, Obinna Darlington (82' Nigel Vella).
Yellow Cards: 40' Eduardo Vallecio, 45' Jorge Yepes.
Scorers: 26' Nikola Vukanac, 39' Shola Shodiya.
BOV Player of the Match: Paul Fenech.
comments powered by Disqus
