Balzan came out for this game in desperate needed for points in order to keep their hopes running for a chance in the Europa League, whereas Tarxien needed the points in order to save their status in the Premier League.

A goal scored from the penalty spot by Andrija Majdevac and another by Aleksandar Kosoric gave Balzan the three important points. If it wasn’t for Tarxien’s goalkeeper Maverick Buhagiar the score would have been bigger.

Balzan held the upper hand throughout the game and found no difficulty to outsmart an over-cautious Tarxien which rarely, if ever, had an attempt to goal.

The first minutes were rather drab with both teams assessing each other without even testing the goalkeepers. It was only in the 26^th minute that Balzan went near. Ricardo Correa was fouled by Jacson De Paixao just outside the box and the resulting direct free kick, taken by Steven Pisani, was parried by goalkeeper Maverick Buhagiar aided by the upright.

Balzan piled up more pressure in search for the lead but found the intense Tarxien defence on guard. In the 35^th minute Uros Ljubomirac tried his luck with a low shot from the end of the area which was saved by goalkeeper Buhagiar.

It was all Balzan in the first half and four minutes before the end of the first half goalkeeper Buhagiar was once again the protagonist tipping over a long range shot by Paul Fenech.

The second half started with a shot, from an acute angle, by Ricardo Correa being saved by Buhagiar.

And in the 51^st minute a shot by Ricardo Correa was deflected into a corner by a defender. From the resulting corner kick Aleksandar Kosoric tried his luck with a shot from outside the area which finished wide.

Balzan increased their tempo and in the 53^rd minute, off a cross from the right by Ivan Bozovic, Buhagiar failed to intercept but Uros Ljubomirac’s shot was blocked by a defender.

In the 66^th minute, Buhagiar had to stretch himself to turn into a corner a deflected shot by Andrija Majdevac.

In the 69^th minute, Balzan finally opened the score. ANDRIJA MAJDEVAC was brought down in the area by Matthew Spiteri with the referee awarding a penalty. The penalty was converted by the same player in style.

A few minutes later Tarxien’s coach Jose’ Borg was given the marching orders from the bench, for passing remarks to the referee.

In the 78^th minute, swift counter attack by Balzan ended with Alfred Effiong’s shot being blocked by Tarxien’s rear-guard.

Five minutes from the end Tarxien appealed for a penalty. Jacson De Paixao appeared to have been brought down in the area but the referee signalled pay on..

Balzan defender ALEKSANDAR KOSORIC sealed the issue three minutes from the end. From a corner taken by Alfred Effiong he connected on an assist by Andrija Majdevac and thumped a low shot into the corner of the net .

BALZAN : Sean Mintoff, Aleksandar Kosoric, Nenad Sljivic, Steven Pisani, Paul Fenech, Alfred Effiong, Uros Ljubomirac (Lydon Micallef 66′), Ivan Bozovic (Justin Grioli 85′), Ricardo Calixto Correa Duarte (Dale Camilleri 75′), Andrija Majdevac.

TARXIEN : Maverick Buhagiar, Marco Botta, Jens Wemmer (Miguel Ciantar 87′), Juan Cruz Gill, Daniel Zerafa, Gabriel Aquilina, Anderson de Barros, Matthew Tabone (Matthew Spiteri 61′), Ricardo Silva Faria, Alex Nilsson, Jacson de Paixao Neponuceno.

Referee: Glen Tonna

BOV Player of the Match: Andrija Majdevac