Gżira United strike late to beat Hibernians, Grech rescues Balzan at the death

Balzan kept alive their hopes of avoiding the drop as a stoppage time goal from Jake Grech handed them a 2-2 draw against Żabbar St Patrick.

In the other Bottom 6 clash, Gżira United put on a resilient display as they came back from a goal down to overcome Hibernians 2-1 and moved within touching distance of Premier League safety.

At the end of the day, Hibernians remained top on 20 points, but Gżira moved up to second on 19 while Żabbar slipped to third on 18.

Balzan stayed fourth but moved on the 15-point mark, two clear of second-from-bottom Naxxar who face bottom-placed Melita tomorrow.

The match at the Tony Bezzina Stadium between Żabbar and Balzan was a must-win match for both sides in their bid to avoid the bottom two places in the standings.

It looked as though Żabbar seized control of the match when they took the lead after ten minutes when Stefan Ilic embarked on a surging run and hit a thumping drive that gave no chance to Danilo Golovic.

Żabbar remained in control  but for all their dominance they could not add a second goal and that proved decisive.

After the break, Balzan started to grow in stature and managed to level matters on the hour mark when they equalised courtesy of a firm strike from Rafael Da Silva Floro that completely caught by surprise goalkeeper Luca Camilleri.

The goal woke up the Saints who soon restored their lead with a firm shot from Diogo Tavares.

But Balzan kept fighting and deep into stoppage time Jake Grech nodded the ball home from close in after Camilleri had kept out Akpan’s shot to hand his team a precious point.

At the National Stadium, Hibernians were off to a storming start as Jurgen Degabriele fired them ahead after 12 minutes when he latched onto a throughball and directed the ball past goalkeeper Giulio Mangano.

But gradually, Gżira showed signs of improvement in the second half and they levelled matters on 77 minutes when from Andy Borg’s cross, the ball fell to Luis Riascos who buried the ball into the top corner.

When it looked as though the match would finish in a goalless draw, Gżira struck the winner.

Thaylor Aldama connected to Tulimieri’s delivery from a free-kick with Gabriel Mentz tapping the ball home from close in to the delight of the Gżira clan.

HIBERNIANS  1

Degabriele 12

GŻIRA UNITED             2

Riascos 77

Mentz 90

HIBERNIANS

H. Sacco, R. Bruno, D. Xuereb (90 F. Falcone), K. Shaw, Pedrao, A. Bruno (72 A. Sorokin,) B. Kristensen (90 A. Silas), K. Fraga, A.E. Martinis, L. Villela, J. Degabriele (72 I. Chukunyere).

GŻIRA UNITED

G. Mangano, K. Zammit, G. Mentz, E. Pepe, S. Sno (69 A. Borg), L. Riascos, D. Barbosa (69 K. Tulimieri), J. Mendoza, Macula, F. Chouaib (84 B. Borg), Thaylor.

Referee: Daniel Casha.

Yellow cards Zammit, Macula, Riascos, Kristensen.ż

ŻABBAR SP     2

Ilic 10

Tavares 71

BALZAN           2

Floro 59

Grech 90

ŻABBAR SP: L. Camilleri, Z. Grech, D. Jovicic (44 A. Iervolino), J. Micallef, S. Jovancic, V. Paiva, K. Keqi (90 I. Davey), S. Ilic (66 D. Oliveira Souza), D. Tavares, M. Santos, Gambarte.

GŻIRA UNITED
D. Golovic, E. Kamsoba, H. Stanic, N. Pulis (80 M. Bacanin), S. Arab (80 L. Lukovic), O. Awosanya, M. Grima (86 J. Grech), J. Busuttil, R. Floro, B. Hili (57 G. Cacciatore), U. Akpan.

Referee: Ishmael Barbara.

Yellow cards Gambarte, Grech, Tavares, Arab, Grima.