Stripes beat Hibs to keep third place hopes alive

by Ayrton Galea - 23rd April 2017

Birkirkara FC kept their hopes alive of finishing in the top-three positions of the BOV Premier League, when they defeated league leaders Hibernians FC with a 2-0 score, courtesy of a goal in each half by Vito Plut and Nikola Vukanac.

The Stripes remained the only unbeaten team in the third and final round, as they seem to reach their peak at the right moment. Birkirkara now moved just point behind Valletta, after the latter suffered a surprising 3-1 victory against St. Andrew's.

Birkirkara surged ahead early in the match and did well to control their lead in the first half.The Stripes doubled the score in the second-half and did an excellent job to control their lead after were made to suffer following Miguel Alba's sending off few moments after the second goal.

Coach Nikola Jaros was forced to make two changes from the last match. Injured duo Cain Attard and Gonzalo Malan were replaced by Miguel Alba and Vito Plut. In the absence of Attard, Herrera was deployed as right-back.

The First Half

Hibernians created the first scoring chance after eight minutes. Jurgen Degabriele found Jorge Da Silva Perreira who had his curling shot from outside the box ending wide.

The Stripes surged ahead on the eleventh minute. Miguel Alba's free-kick from a diagonal position outside the box took a slight deflection, and Plut rose high before his marker to place his header past goalkeeper Andrew Hogg.

Birkirkara almost doubled the score with an identical action on the ninetieth minute. It was another well taken free-kick by Alba that saw Bubalovic's header ending just over the net, with Hogg who mis-timed his outing beaten.

Hibernians produced their best chance on the twenty-sixth minute. Ribeiro showed his excellent skills with a dazzling run but his shot was blocked by Bonello. From the rebound, Bjorn Kristensen unleased a powerful low shot that saw Bonello producing another fine save by turning the ball into a corner kick.

Nikola Vukanac hit the side-netting with a fine corner, following a corner kick by Alba on the first-post on the twenty-eighth minute, while four minutes later, Dejan Boljevic saw his header ending over from Ribeiro's free-kick.

In the last action of the first half, nine minutes from time, Jurgen Degabriele delivered a curling cross in the path of Clayton Failla but the latter's header ended over.

 
The Second Half

Hibernians had the ball at the back of the net two minutes inside the second half, when Andrei Agius' header beat Henry Bonello. However, the assistant referee had his flag up and the goal was ruled-out for an offside position.

Birkirkara went close five minutes inside the second half. Gareth Sciberras' back-heel inside the box found Plut but his shot from an ideal position hit the side-netting. On the other side of the pitch, Gilmar had a dangerous free-kick ending wide three minutes later.

The Paolites were unlucky not to make the score level on the fifty-seventh minute. Jorge Da Silva Perreira, who was rarely given an inch but the Birkirkara defenders, squared his pass towards Clayton Failla who had his powerful shot hitting the crossbar and into a goal-kick.

The Stripes doubled their lead on the sixty-fourth minute. Dimitrov delivered an inch-perfect corner kick in the path of Nikola Vukanac and the robust defender rose high unmarked to hit a bullet header past the motionless goalkeeper Andrew Hogg.

Birkirkara ended-up playing with ten players just two minutes later. Miguel Alba committed a late foul and referee Fyodor Zammit sent off the Birkirkara playmaker for his second bookable offence.

Hibernians went close twice to narrow the gap courtesy of Clayton Failla, when first he failed to hit to ball into an empty net from an inviting cross by Gilmar, while moments later the left-footed player was denied by the crossbar once again with another powerful shot.

The Stripes held strong in the last minutes to keep their hopes of playing in European competitions next year alive thanks to another brilliant performance.

BIRKIRKARA: Henry Bonello, Edward Herrera, Christian Bubalovic, Gareth Sciberras, Matthew Guillaumier (54' Ryan Scicluna), Mislav Andelkovic, Srdjan Dimitrov (88' Edmond Agius), Vito Plut (83' Predrag Jovic), Nikola Vukanac, Joseph Zerafa, Miguel Alba.

HIBERNIANS: Andrew Hogg, Rodolfo Soares, Dejan Boljevic (70′ Johann Bezzina), Marcelo Dias, Jackson Lima, Clayton Failla, Bjorn Kristensen, Jorge Pereira da Silva, Jurgen Degabriele (81′ Momodou Jallow Salieu), Gilmar Ribeiro da Silva, Andrei Agius.

Referee: Fyodor Zammit
Assistant Refeees: Luke Portelli, Sammy Attard
Additional Assistant Referees: Stefan Pace, Eman Grech
Fourth Official: Alan Camilleri

Yellow Cards: 14' Gilmar Ribeiro, 36' Marcelo Dias (Hibernians), 40' Miguel Alba, 42' Srdjan Dimitrov, 73' Joseph Zerafa, 85' Henry Bonello (Birkirkara).

Scorers: 11' Vito Plut, 64' Nikola Vukanac (Birkirkara).

BOV Player of the Match: Gilmar Ribeiro (Hibernians).

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