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A Question of…by Jonathan Spiteri04/01/2010 Luck or Maturity? I might say it is a question of both. Birkirkara were just an ugly copy of the team we had been admiring in recent weeks, and one would have had no complaints if Hamrun Spartans forged ahead in the first half an hour. Luck, together with a couple of fine saves by the excellent Mora helped us keep our lively opponents at bay. Our lads surely had the worst half an hour since our last defeat against Floriana, but this time around showed great personality in applying the killer blow in the only two menacing occasions in the first half. 
The team then found itself and controlled the game with confidence in the second half, where the only thing the players could be criticised for is the lack of punch in front of goal that could have helped us kill off the game much earlier. How can one explain the first 30 minutes though? Did the players go into this match with overconfidence? I am sure that Mr Paul Zammit is well aware of the problems complacency can bring with it; therefore he must have surely drilled the players in that sense. It might be the fact that the majority of the players are relatively inexperienced and might get carried away with the hype that surrounds the Stripes’ clan at the moment. They might have also been surprised by the fact that Hamrun, unlike other recent ‘less quoted’ opponents, did not seek a defensive approach to the game, but were aggressive in midfield and dangerous upfront. All in all, though, one has to be pleased with the overall input of the squad. It is evident that all the players are working for the rest of the team. It is always a pleasure, especially for the coach himself, to see a player from midfield cove the position left unguarded by a defender during particular instances of the game. If this collective effort was not there, we might today be cursing ourselves for not cashing on Valletta’s slip against Sliema. 
Next in line are Dingli Swallows. In my opinion their meagre return in terms of points does not really do justice to them. They are no push-overs and the majority of their defeats could have easily been draws, Hibernians can well testify this. Let us hope the match against Hamrun served as a wake up call and that those first 30 minutes are not repeated. We must be focused from the first to the last whistle the referee blows, determined to win every ball and be deadly in front of goal. Then, who knows? We might be looking at the standings after the weekend and find ourselves there, at the top, where we all would love Birkirkara FC to be after all! |