Watch: Makoma’s late strike hands Birkirkara crucial win over Valletta

Stephan Makoma was the toast of Birkirkara FC on Sunday as the hard-working midfielder grabbed a late winner against Valletta at the Tony Bezzina Stadium.

It was another nail-biting finish to a match that, for much of its 90 minutes, had failed to entertain much of the crowd present at Corradino.

These two football rivals gave life to a hard-fought encounter, which produced not many scoring opportunities, particularly in the first half, and it looked as though both sides were set to settle for a point.

But Makoma had other ideas as his late winner earned Birkirkara their third win of the Closing Round and moved up to sixth place on nine points, boosting their hopes of a Top 6 finish.

The first half produced few scoring opportunities, with Birkirkara’s only chance coming through a tame effort by Jacques Bayo that drifted wide.

Valletta, on the other hand, twice came close when Ahmed Adebayo fired over from inside the area and then just before the half-time whistle, Emmanuel Mbende connected to Yuri Messias’ corner kick, but his effort hit the bar.

After the break, the match came to life when Steve Borg was adjudged to have handled the ball in an attempt to block Aleandro Garzia’s shot, with referee Slobodan Petrovic pointing to the spot.

Alessandro Coppola stepped up for the kick but saw his shot brilliantly saved by Valletta goalkeeper Adilson Maringa.

The match remained evenly-poised, and five minutes from time, Maringa again came to Valletta’s rescue when he dived to his right to keep out an effort by Birkirkara substitute Jere Vrcic.

However, from the ensuing corner-kick, Maringa was left helpless as Makoma did well to connect with the ball and send a firm header into the net to the delight of the Birkirkara fans.

SLIEMA WANDERERS         1

Alcino 22

MOSTA                                       0

Sliema Wanderers were back to winning ways when they overcame Mosta 1-0 at the Centenary Stadium.

The Wanderers were coming into the match on the back of a negative run of just one draw in their last three outings and  were desperate to take all the spoils to put themselves in contention for a Top 6 finish.

Sliema started brightly and took the lead after 22 minutes. From a Roko Prsa corner-kick, Gustavo Alcino was on hand to head the ball past Akpan.

Mosta should have pulled level on 34 minutes when, from a corner action, the ball fell to Emmanuel Prince, who incredibly fired over from routine distance.

Scoring chances remained few and far between, with Sliema close to a second on 74 minutes, but Mohamed Awad’s shot was turned to a corner by Akpan.

Mosta were unlucky not to level the match five minutes from time, Giancarlo Goncalves saw his volley hit the upright as the Wanderers held on for the win.