Balzan’s goalkeeper Danilo Golovic made an impressive performance with several crucial saves to keep Hibernians at bay while Balzan grabbed the win with two second-half goals securing three precious points.
For this game Balzan had to do without their midfielder captain Paul Fenech and defender Andre’ Fausto Prates, both suspended while Triston Caruana and Nikola Braunovic took their place.
The first half Hibernians were rather in control by thought they could not find the net. But in the half Balzan improved a lot and in the end they grabbed the points that mattered.
Hibernians came out on the offensive and on the 4th minute, Luiz Henrique Guedes missed a very good opportunity to put his team ahead when, following a cross by Alex Bruno De Souza Silva, from point-blank range and with only the goalkeeper to beat he incredibly shot high.
As time went by when Hibernians were dictating matters Balzan tried to catch their opponents on the break threatening through Leonardo De Souza just to see goalkeeper Ibrahim Kone denying him.
In the 20th minute, Danilo Golovic came to the rescue for Balzan when Giannis Bastianos let fly a brilliant freekick but the goalkeeper managed to push away into a corner.
Two minutes later, Jurgen Degabriele was at the end of a well-engineered move but his curling effort was not enough to beat Golovic.
Hibernians remained the most dangerous team on the field as in the 26th minute, Rodney Akowauh Antwi came close to finding the net but once again Danilo Golovic proved tough to beat from close range.
In the 27th minute, against the run of play, Balzan thought they opened the score but their celebrations were cut short by the Referee.
An effort by Ryohei Michibuchi was pushed away by goalkeeper Ibrahim Kone into Ivan Bozovic path, finding Leonardo da Silva de Souza on the penalty spot who fired past the Hibernians’ goalkeeper.
However, it seamed that the match official had already halted the play, just before De Souza fired past Kone. This decision was followed by protests from the Balzan clan. The issue was that Ivan Bozovic had allegedly made a simulation to win a penalty, for this he was penalized with a yellow card.
As the Hibernians were looking to regain momentum in this match, Kurt Shaw failed to connect properly with the ball from a free-kick situation .
At the beginning of the second half, Balzan came close when an effort by Aleksa Andrejic from outside the penalty area finished just wide.
In the 56th minute, Hibernians replied through Jurgen Degabriele but once again he could not beat Danilo Golovic with the goalkeeper keeping Balzan in the game once more.
These missed chances came back to haunt Hibernians, as on the hour mark, it was Balzan who managed to break the deadlock, when Jake Grech sent an insidious cross from inside the small area with RYOHEI MICHIBUCHI capitalising on it and finishing the ball into an empty net.
In the 71st minute, as Hibernians started to pile the pressure on Balzan, following a corner-kick, Kurt Shaw headed towards goal but found Danilo Golovic once more in top form denying him.
Minutes later, a great volley from long-range by substitute Samuel Okoh finished wide past Golovic’s goal.
In the last minutes of the game Hibernians threw everything on the attack trying to save the game.
Nonetheless, in the 89th minute, Balzan countered and managed to doubled the scored, wrapping up the win when substitute OLUWATOBILOBA DIMEJI AWOSANYA made the most of a good run, rounding up goalkeeper Ibrahim Kone and burying the ball into the empty net.
For Hibernians this was their third consecutive defeat and remain on six points whereas Balzan returned to winning ways and are now in fourth place with nine points, one point behind Marsaxlokk.
Hibernians: Ibrahim Kone, Ferdinando Apap, Kurt Shaw, Jurgen Degabriele, Bjorn Kristensen, Zachary Grech (Robert Bairam 69’), Alex Bruno de Silva Souza (Samuel Okoh 69’), Claudio Bonanni (Gabriel Artiles 76’), Giannis Bastianos, Rodney Akowauh Antwi, Luiz Henrique Guedes (Armen Hovhannisyan 59’).
Balzan: Danilo Golovic, Ivan Bozovic, Samir Arab, Triston Caruana, Jake Grech, (Benjamin Hili 90’), Ryohei Michibuchi, Nikola Braunovic, Momcilo Raso, Leonardo Da Silva de Souza (Oluwatobiloba Dimeji Awosanya 79’), Aleksa Andrejic (Marcus Grima 73’), Peter Ukeme Olawale (Alexander Katanic 79’).
Referee: Andrea Schiriha.
BOV Player of the game: Danilo Golovic (Balzan).