Camenzuli inspires Stripes to get back to winning ways
by Ayrton Galea - 3rd December 2015
Birkirkara FC returned to winning ways and heaved a sigh of relief yesterday evening a solitary goal just three minutes inside the second half by Ryan Camenzuli was enough to handle them a narrow 1-0 victory over Tarxien Rainbows FC.
In a hard-fought match that produced few scoring opportunities, it was the Stripes who walked out of the National Stadium with the precious three points to keep the pace with joined-leaders Hibernians and Valletta respectively. The Stripes are now sharing the third place with Balzan with twenty-six points, two under the joined-leaders of Hibernians and Valletta.
It was Ryan Camenzuli who stole the lime-light on the day as he produced an outstanding performance patrolling the left wing, scoring the decisive goal and went on being voted the BOV Player of the Match. For Camenzuli this was the third goal in the league and the second time voted as the player of the match.
Mr. Giovanni Tedesco was hit with a number of injuries as Fabrizio Miccoli, Juan Quero, Paul Fenech and Shola Shodiya are all recovering from different injuries while Edward Herrera, who is also recovering from a struggling injury, was only fit to start on the bench. Under-19's Team latest signing, Josef Willy was called with the Senior Team for the first time.
The Italian Coach made three changes from the 2-2 draw against Naxxar Lions. Cain Attard was replaced by Joseph Zerafa who was making his return following a one-match ban, Gareth Sciberras started at the expenses of Rowen Muscat while Nikola Vukanac made his return following an injury to replace the injured Juan Quero.
The First Half
The match had a slow and balanced start with the first scoring opportunity arriving after eleven minutes. There was an erratic clearance at the back with the ball reaching Ellinton Morais who had his fierce first-time strike ending wide.
Tarxien began to settle down. They were enjoying large swatches of possession in midfield as the Stripes chased for most of the opening stages. Ayrton Azzopardi delivered a curling cross to the path of Luke Montebello on the twenty-first minute but the latter's close-range effort ended wide.
The Rainbows continued to dictate matters and they went close seven minutes later. A direct free-kick by Ayrton Azzopardi ended wide with the Stripes lacking from an ideas and punch up-front in the opening thirty minutes.
The Stripes had strong protests for a penalty on the thirty-third minute when Joseph Zerafa's cross seemed to come off Bruno Oliveira's arm but Referee Trustin Farrugia Cann turned down their protests and waved play on. Ryan Camenzuli was showed a yellow card for his frustration on the decision by the referee.
The first-half ended goal-less
The Second Half
With Emerson Marcelina cautioned just before half-time and the Stripes lacking spark in the attack, Mr. Giovanni Tedesco included Frank Temile off the Brazilian holding midfielder.
Tedesco now opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation. Scicluna and Sciberras were now the two-holding midfielders with Temile and Camenzuli at the either side of Morais who was now roaming behind striker Plut.
The inclusion of Frank Temile quickly left the desired results as the Stripes surged ahead after three minutes. The Nigerian striker sprinted forward before passing to Morais who continue switching the play to Camenzuli and the latter struck a wonderful shot past goalkeeper Andrea Cassar.
Tarxien could have equalised on the fifty-second minute when a long-ball from the defence caught the Birkirkara's rear-guard on the wrong foot but Luke Montebello's lob over Haber was cleared by Mauricio Mazzetti. Three minutes later, Alex da Paixao Alves had a fierce strike ending over.
With Temile and Camenzuli on the wings and Liliu moving closer to Plut in the centre, Birkirkara carried more of a threat. On the sixty-fourth minute, Camenzuli's inswinger eluded the Tarxien defenders but Morais made a hash of controlling the ball.
Unimpressed with his team's attacking thrust, Tarxien's Coach Mr. Scerri made a double substitution, throwing on Danilo and Anderson for Montebello and Lucky Omeruo.
The game petered out as Tarxien's reaction was sterile. Camenzuli dragged in another menacing free-kick but the Rainbows defenders cleared. Four minutes from time, Rowen Muscat, who had come on for Ryan Scicluna, had a shot deflected away for a corner after another Camenzuli-inspired move.
In stoppage time, Tarxien's Zerafa was relieved to see the ball roll wide after he had dashed back to cut out Rowen Muscat's cross as the Stripes held on for a narrow victory.
BIRKIRKARA: Justin Haber, Zach Muscat, Mauricio Mazzetti, Nikola Vukanac, Joseph Zerafa, Emerson Marcelina (46′ Frank Temile), Gareth Sciberras, Ryan Scicluna (73′ Rowen Muscat), Ryan Camenzuli, Ellinton Morais (83′ Edmond Agius), Vito Plut.
TARXIEN: Andrea Cassar, Bruno Giglio de Oliveira (45+1′ Matthew Tabone), Triston Caruana, Brandon Muscat, Ayrton Azzopardi, Lucky Omeruo (72′ Anderson Raimundo da Silva), Carlos Menendez Hevia, Luke Montebello (72′ Danilo Meira Santos), Daniel Zerafa, Alex da Paixao Alves, Joao Pedro Oliveira Santos.
Referee: Trustin Farrugia Cann
Assistant Referees: William Debattista, Martin Borg
Fourth Official: Glen Tonna
Yellow Cards: 33' Ryan Camenzuli, 44' Emerson Marcelina, 69' Ellinton Morais, 70' Ryan Scicluna (Birkirkara), Carlos Menendez Hevia, Brandon Muscat (Tarxien)
Scorers: 48' Ryan Camenzuli.
BOV Player of the Match: Ryan Camenzuli (Birkirkara).
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