Last-gasp goal from Ronivan Santos earns Birkirkara crucial win over Żabbar SP

BIRKIRKARA         1       

Santos 90

ŻABBAR SP         0

Birkirkara scored deep in stoppage time to beat Żabbar St. Patrick in a scrappy encounter.

This win puts the Stripes six points clear of the Saints in the battle to avoid the bottom two places of the table.

For Birkirkara, Jan Busuttil and Kemar Reid were preferred to Shaun Dimech and Jacques Bayo.

On the other hand, Żabbar had three changes from their last outing as Nicholas James Agius, Ryan Scicluna and Mario Fontanella were handed a start.

Shots at goal were few and far between.

In fact, after a most quiet first half hour, Birkirkara went close with an Alessandro Coppola header ending just wide on 29 minutes off a corner by Acheampong from the left.

Nine minutes later, Fran Lopez headed wide off another corner by Acheampong.

However, in added time, Żabbar threatened with a Pedro Cejas effort from close range off a corner by Vinicius De Paiva.

Żabbar were better on the restart and four minutes in the second half, Jurgen Pisani was unlucky to hit the woodwork with a long-distance effort.

Five minutes later, Cejas had a conclusion from inside the area ending off target and a Ryan Scicluna close-range effort was neutralised by Martinez. At the other end, an overhead kick by Morello ended high for Birkirkara on 56 minutes.

Substitute Jacques Bayo was unlucky to hit the foot of the upright for the Stripes on 66 minutes.

Ten minutes later, Birkirkara were awarded a penalty, but the decision was overturned by the referee after reviewing the FVS, which showed that there was no foul on Morello inside the area.

However, five minutes in added time, Birkirkara notched the winner.

Jan Busuttil delivered a corner from the left and substitute Roni Santos headed home past goalkeeper Ignacio Colombo.ż