Birżebbuġa St Peter’s see off Melita to win BOV Challenge Cup

It was a memorable result for Birżebbuġa who have added more prestige to the 2025-26 season as after winning their first-ever promotion to the Premier League they have also taken home BOV Challenge Cup.

Melita had the first opportunity of the match, when they had a free-kick on the far right. The ball was played short to Karl Mohnani, but his left-footed effort went over the bar.

In the 20th minute, Alex Bruno linked up well with Zachary Cassar and Duvan Torres, before firing a shot that was deflected away.

Birżebbuġa took the lead on 27 minutes. Jacob Walker was brought down inside the area and from the resultant penalty, Bruno made no mistake.

Melita almost equalised three minutes from the break when Eric Mensah saw his curling drive that sail over the bar.  

In the second half, Melita kept pushing and on 54 minutes, a perfectly clipped pass found Olanshile Allionida Quadri, but his effort went wide.

Despite Melita’s pressure, it was Birżebbupa who struck again. Bruno lobbed the ball brilliantly into the path of Paul Lapira, who with only goalkeeper Sean Mintoff to beat, he firedva shot into the bottom corner to double the Southsiders’ lead.

Any hope Melita had of pulling themselves back into the match were all but extinguished minutes later, when, in a swift break, Zachary Cassar curled the ball into the net.

Birzebbuga remained in control during the final minutes of the game, and they saw out the win.

At the end of the match, MFA senior vice-president Dr Matthew Paris and BOV Head of CSR and Events Charles Azzopardi presented the trophy to the Birżebbuġa players.