Friday 30th September 2016 – It was a routine win for Balzan as they secured another three points in their run towards a serious challenge for the Premier League title this season.
For St Andrews, it was an uphill task after Balzan took the lead on 13 minutes. They fought hard in the first half, but their efforts never yielded the desired results.
And when Balzan scored two other goals near the end of the first half and at the start of the second, the match was as good as over.
Balzan were certainly a superior outfit but the St Andrews tried their best to keep them at bay apart from going at their opponents whenever they got the opportunity.
However, they were found wanting up front as goalie Christian Cassar was only tested seriously on one occasion.
In the second half, the St Andrews went out in search of a goal to try and get back into the match, but Balzan had other ideas and after scoring a third goal from a penalty, there was never any doubt as to where the points were going, even if they failed to add more goals to their tally.
The first action arrived on six minutes, when from a Joseph Farrugia corner, Bong Won Che headed well over the bar from an ideal position.
Balzan broke the deadlock on 13 minutes when in their first real foray, it was ABDELKARIM NAFTI who hit hard from the edge of the area to beat goalie Jake Galea all ends up.
Three minutes later Bojan Kaljevic was set beautifully by Abdelkarim Nafti in the area, but his shot was deviated to an abortive corner.
At the other end, Joseph Farrugia set Ziga Kastrevec, but the latter’s effort went over the bar.
St Andrews went close to equalising in the 42nd minute with goalie Christian Cassar out of position. First it was Daniel Brandle who saw goalie Cassar turning to corner with difficulty. From the resultant corner-kick, a melee ensued in the Balzan area and Kyrian Nwoko saw his semi-rovesciata just missing the target.
Instead the goal arrived at the other end on the 45th minute. It was PAUL FENECH who scored a beauty from about 25 metres, the ball hitting the post before entering the net.
Before the interval whistle, ST Andrews protested for a penalty when a Ziga Kastrevec effort seemed to have hit a Balzan defender’s hands, but the official, close to the action, only awarded a corner-kick.
St Andrews started the second half on attack and from a joseph Farrugia corner kick, it was Michael Johnson who headed over the bar.
Balzan were awarded a penalty in the 57th minute when Matteo Piciollo was floored in the area by Michael Johnson. From the resultant spot kick, BOJAN KALJEVIC made no mistake to put his team further in command.
From then on, Balzan refrained from pressing upwards as St Andrews tried in vain to score a consolation goal.
In the 80th minute, Kyrian Nwoko had a good chance to reduce the gap, but he hit the side netting.
At the other end, it was goalie Jake Galea who denied substitute aAan Da Silva Souza as he rushed out of his charge to block the latter’s incursion.
BALZAN : Christian Cassar, Bojan Kaljevic, Bruno Giglio de Oliviera, Steve Bezzina, Lydon Micallef (72’ Alan da Silva Souza), Paul Fenech, Matteo Piciollo (76’ Dylan Grima), Samir Arab (65’ Clive Brincat), Abdelkarim Nafti, Elkin Orlando Serrano Valero, Terrence Agius.
ANDREWS : Jake Galea, Michael Johnson, Karlo Kesinovic, Bong Won Che, Felix Udoh Okon, Emmy Manuel Pena Beltre, Kyrian Nwoko (82’ Ryan Darmanin), Joseph Farrugia (68’ Ivan Edgardo Paz), Daniel Brandle (76’ Jacob Walker), Ziga Kastrevec, Dale Camilleri.
Referee: Stefan Pace