Ten-man Stripes sweat to beat Pembroke
by Ayrton Galea - 29th February 2016
Birkirkara FC made them two out of two in the third and final round of the BOV Premier League, when a first-half goal by Matija Smrekar was enough to beat Pembroke Athleta with a narrow 1-0 score, in a match where they played for more than an hour with a player less.
In a difficult and delicate match, the Stripes had to sweat much more than expected to register their second consecutive victory. They had control for the opening thirty-minutes, where they also surged ahead thanks to Smrekar. However, after goalkeeper Kopric was sent off after thirty minutes, the Stripes suffered a lot of pressure, but showed great determination to hold strong and earn three precious points.
Thanks to this victory, the Stripes kept the pace with all the front runners while opening a three-point lead over Floriana, before going head to head with them this Wednesday. Birkirkara are in the fourth place with twenty-seven points, six under Valletta, four under Hibernians and two under Balzan.
Head Coach Mr. Drazen Besek made one change from last weekend's 6-3 victory over Mosta. Ryan Camenzuli, who was serving a one-match ban, was replaced by Matthew Guillaumier. Edmond Agius was back for the Stripes and he started on the bench. On the other hand, Edward Herrera, Joseph Zerafa, Mauricio Mazzetti and Nikola Vukanac were all ruled-out injured.
Short of left-backs, as Camenzuli was suspended and Zerafa still recovering from a muscular injury, Mujanovic started on the left while Guillaumier was included in midfield in a 4-1-3-2 formation.
Kopric defended the posts, Sciberras was once again deployed to the centre-back with Bubalovic, while Attard and Mujanovic were utilised on the wings. Andelkovic started in-front of the defence while Guillaumier and Scicluna started at either side of Bilbao who had a roaming role, behind the two strikers Smrekar and Seydi.
The First Half
The match had a slow start. Pembroke came out aggressive but Birkirkara began to settle down and they enjoyed the lion's share of possession after the shaky opening ten minutes.
Birkirkara had the first scoring opportunity after seventeen minutes. Goran Mujanovic advanced forward unmarked and unleashed a powerful drive from outside the box which was turned into a corner kick with an excellent save by Mario Muscat.
Pembroke heaved a sigh of relief, but the respite did not last long. From the resulting corner kick, the Stripes surged ahead. Bilbao's corner kick found Smrekar who headed to ball to Cain Attard who had his close-range shot blocked by Muscat. From the rebound the ball fell at the feet of Smrekar who had his effort blocked by Alex Cini on the goalline, but Smreaker made no mistake in his second attempt.
The Stripes seemed in control but the match took a huge twist on the twenty-eighth minute. Mano Micallef seemed to be behind the Birkirkara's defence in an offside position, but the assistant referee kept his flag down, and goalkeeper Miroslav Kopric tackled the Pembroke player. Referee Malcolm Spiteri pointed to the spot and sent off Kopric. Matthew Guillaumier made way for Ini Akpan, and the latter quickly turned to be the hero for the Stripes, as he made a fine save on Gustavo Villalobos' low strike from the penalty kick.
While the Stripes having enjoyed controlling the match in the opening half-hour, it was now Pembroke who began to pile-up the pressure. Seydi was deployed on the wing as now Birkirkara were playing with a 4-1-3-1 formation with Smrekar the only striker for the Stripes.
Just before the half-time whistle, Edison Bilbao was fouled outside the box. From the resulting free-kick, Matija Smrekar had an attempt ending over the bar. The end of the first half found the Stripes with ten-men but leading thanks to Smrekar's opening goal after eighteen minutes.
The Second Half
With a numerical advantage for the whole forty-five minutes, one would have expected Pembroke to come out with all guns blazing right from the start of the second half but it was the Stripes who had the first opportunity of the second half.
Ryan Scicluna, had a solo-action before serving Matija Smrekar, who showed fine abilities to quickly control the ball and had a shot from outside the box saved by Mario Muscat.
The Stripes had another fine scoring opportunity just before the hour mark. Mujanovic made another fine overlap on the left wing before delivering an excellent first-post cross that saw L'Imam Seydi rising high to hit a powerful header which was denied by a brilliant save by Muscat.
Pembroke were having more of the possession but it was the Stripes who went close once again twenty minutes into the second half. Ryan Scicluna found space on the left wing to deliver a powerful cross-shot that caught goalkeeper Mario Muscat out of position but the ball smashed against the crossbar and ended into a goal-kick.
Head Coach Mr. Drazen Besek made his second substitution on the sixty-eighth minute when Edison Bilbao was replaced by Edmond Agius. Agius was inserted instead of Bilbao on the right side of midfield.
Two minutes later, the Birkirkara substitute could have concluded much better when off a long-throw by Mujanovic, Owen Bugeja headed the ball back only to be Agius all-alone but the latter's fierce strike ended over from close-range.
Pembroke went close with a shot by Terence Agius on the seventy-third minute. Six minutes later, on the other side of the pitch, Smrekar failed to connect with the ball, when unmarked in front of the net, he was served by Agius but the ball rolled to a goal-kick.
In the last five minutes of the match, match-winner Matija Smrekar was replaced by Kurt Zammit. Zammit was included on the left side of midfield as Seydi was advanced in attack as the Stripes held for an important narrow victory.
Goran Mujanovic was named the BOV Player of the Match.
BIRKIRKARA: Miroslav Kopric, Cain Attard, Gareth Sciberras, Christian Bubalovic, Goran Mujanovic, Mislav Andelkovic, Ryan Scicluna, Matthew Guillaumier (30' Ini Akpan – GK), Edison Bilbao (68' Edmond Agius), L'Imam Seydi, Matija Smrekar (85' Kurt Zammit).
PEMBROKE: Mario Muscat, Zoran Levnaic, Alex Cini, Miguel Attard (61' Gustavo , Owen Bugeja, Mano Micallef, Siraj Arab (69' Obinna Obiefule), Ariel Laudisi, Gustavo Villalobos, Terence Agius, Kyle O'Brien.
Referee: Malcolm Spiteri
Assistant Referees: Duncan Sultana, William Debattista
Fourth Official: Fyodor Zammit
Yellow Cards: 8' Cain Attard, 54' Goran Mujanovic, 60' Ryan Scicluna, 63' Gareth Sciberras (Birkirkara), 42' Terence Agius (Pembroke Athleta)
Red Cards: 30' Miroslav Kopric.
Scorers: 18' Matija Smrekar.
BOV Player of the Match: Goran Mujanovic (Birkirkara)
