The last fixture of the season was decisive for Balzan and Santa Lucia as both teams were on level points and they couldn’t spare to lose points. Balzan needed to beat Sliema to ensure at least a relegation play-off unless Sta Lucia failed to beat Valletta.
While Balzan managed to win the match against Sliema 1-0, on the other hand, Valletta managed to beat Sta Lucia 2-1, condemning them to the Challenge League.
A goal by Suleiman Jalu midway into the first half was enough for Balzan to beat Sliema Wanderers and retain their Premier League status on the final day of the season.
In the first chance of the match, Bojan Kaljevic darted towards the box but his low drive was blocked by Sliema’s goalkeeper Rashed Al Tumi.
In the 13th minute, Rashed Al Tumi came to the rescue for his team when he denied a Milan Duric’s header attempt from close-range.
In the 18th minute, Milan Duric kept threatening Sliema, this time with a direct freekick which once again forced a very good save by Rashed Al-Tumi.
In the 28th minute, Bojan Kaljevic miscued an enormous chance as he failed to capitalise from point-blank range.
At the half-hour mark, Balzan insisted, with Milos Mijic trying his luck from inside the penalty area but the goalkeeper denied him.
Balzan finally broke the deadlock when in the 34th minute SULEIMAN JALU managed to dribble past goalkeeper Rashed Al Tumi before slotting the ball into the empty net.
After the interval, Balzan kept pressing to double their lead when Milos Mijic fired over the bar from outside the penalty.
As time passed by, the tempo started to decline as Balzan decided to make sure to preserve their one-goal lead while hoping for Sta Lucia to slip up against Valletta.
The final whistle brought a sigh of relief to Balzan, whose objectives at the beginning of the season were far more different than the ones they had to experience at the end.
SLIEMA WANDERERS: Rashed Al Tumi; Luke Anthony Muscat; Juan Pablo Morales Rengifo; Mark Scerri (Inters Gui 83’); Edmond Agius; Danny Holla; Matteo Piciollo (Amadou Samb 83’); Oscar Linton Bethancourt; Jean Carlos Cloth Goncalves (Denzel Formston 90’); Dejan Vukovic; Valmir. Berisha.
BALZAN: Rudy Briffa; Augustine Loof, Marcus Grima, Milan Duric, Paul Fenech, Nikola Gulan (Gary Camilleri 58’), Milos Zlatkovic, Suleiman Jalu (Neil Frendo 76’), Milos Mijic, Bojan Kaljevic, Sean Cipriott.
Referee: Stefan Pace.
BOV Player of the Match: Suleiman Jalu (Balzan).