Match Report: Birkirkara FC 2-0 Tarxien Rainbows FC

by Ayrton Galea - 21st October 2018

Birkirkara FC returned to winning ways in the BOV Premier League as they defeated Tarxien Rainbows FC with a 2-0 score.

The Stripes made sure to recover from back-to-back defeats as they produced a dominant performance that saw superior to their opponents for long stretches and a goal in each half was enough to make sure of the three vital points.

Debutant Petar Orlandic, the Montengrin forward that signed for the Stripes earlier this week, left his mark by scoring his first goal on his first appearance besides having a positive performance, especially in the first half.

Orlandic was in fact one of the three changes made by Coach Paul Zammit from the last match. The other two changes featured the return of Carlos Chavarria and Marcelo Henrique back in the fray, with Matthew Guillaumier, Michael Mifsud and Thiago Brito starting on the back.

The First Half

Birkirkara enjoyed large swatches of possession in the opening minutes and their first scoring opportunity arrived after fifteen minutes. Chavarria played a fine through-ball towards to on-running Petar Orlandic who advanced forward, but his low shot was saved by goalkeeper Andrea Cassar.

The Stripes started to step up their tempo as time went by. They went close just past the half-hour mark. Carlos Chavarria dashed inside the box and hit a fine effort, but his effort was blocked by goalkeeper Cassar.

Nonetheless, Birkirkara made their superiority count hardly a minute later. It was debutant Petar Orlandic who scored on his debut as he hit a fine header from inside the box after served by Eduardo Dos Santos, following a corner kick taken by Jake Grech.

The Stripes continued to dictate matters and they went close to double their lead five minutes from half-time. Marcelo Henrique won a free-kick in an ideal position outside the box. From the resulting free-kick, Jake Grech hit a fine shot, but goalkeeper Cassar made a fine save.

Just before the half-time whistle, the Stripes almost grabbed their second goal. It was again Orlandic on target as he connected well to a cross by Cain Attard, but Cassar was the protagonist again as he denied the Montenegrin forward to keep his team in the match.

The Second Half

The Stripes continued where they left in the first half. They dictated matters and enjoyed large swatches of possession. Birkirkara Captain Mislav Andelkovic had a fine volley from outside the box blocked by the defender.

Birkirkara doubled the lead on the sixty-fourth minute. Jake Grech's powerful curling corner kick effort surprises Tarxien Rainbows goalkeeper Andrea Cassar as the latter could only deflect the ball into his own net.

The Stripes continued to show their superiority and went close to add their third goal, when Marcelo Henrique completed a fine run with a powerful shot from outside the box, but his shot was saved by goalkeeper Cassar.

Tarxien Rainbows went close to narrow the gap on the seventy-fifth minute in what was their first shot on goal. Darren Fazon hit a thunderous shot from outside that forced goalkeeper Kristijan Naumovski to save in two attempts.

The Rainbows put more men forward in the late stages, but the Stripes held strong for the victory and the first clean-sheet in three matches.

Birkirkara midfielder Mislav Andelkovic was voted the BOV Player of the Match.

BIRKIRKARA: Kristijan Naumovski, Danilo Chapoval, Mislav Andelkovic, Paul Fenech, Petar Orlandic, Jake Grech (73' Terence Agius), Kurt Zammit, Eduardo Dos Santos, Cain Attard, Marcelo Henrique (83' Myles Beerman), Carlos Chavarria (77' Michael Mifsud).

TARXIEN RAINBOWS: Andrea Cassar, Alexandaer Wemmer (34' Radu Rogac), Matthew Spiteri, Gabriel Aquilina, Darren Falzon, Andre Scicluna, Stefan Radovanovic, Anderson De Barros, Miguel Ciantar (71' Andrew Agius), Ricardo Silva Farria, Alexander Nilsson (83' Daniel Vassallo).

Referee: Jamie Robinson.
Assistant Referees: Jamie Carnduff, Bogdan Sfirloaga.
Fourth Official: Mark Dillon.

Yellow Cards: 50' Kurt Zammit, 53' Paul Fenech (Birkirkara), 43' Darren Falzon (Tarxien Rainbows)

Scorers: 32' Petar Orlandic, 64' Jake Grech (Birkirkara).

BOV Player of the Match: Mislav Andelkovic (Birkirkara).

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