BOV Premier League | Hibernians 2 – Gzira United 0

Hibernians ended their first round on a high as they managed to beat Gzira 2-0.

Photo: Christine Borg
Photo: Christine Borg

The second match at the Hibernians stadium saw the teams of Hibernians and Gzira facing off each other.

Both sides are having a positive campaign and thus they needed a win in order to keep on challenging for honours.

The Paolites were aiming to return to winning ways as they shared the spoils with Valletta in their previous encounter.

On the other end, Gzira’s aim was to secure another win in order to keep the pace with Floriana. The Maroons won 3-1 against Mosta in their previous match.

Hibernians suffered a setback on the 38th minute as they were reduced to ten men since Bjorn Kristensen was shown a straight red card following some remarks he passed towards the referee.

Gzira were also reduced to ten men early in the second half as Jefferson de Assis was shown his second yellow card of the match.

Hibernians had more of the ball following Gzira’s red card and managed to score on the 59th minute. Following a corner, the ball fell for Andrei Agius who placed the ball inside the net.

The match went from bad to worse for Gzira as Fernando Barbosa was also sent off moments later after receiving his second yellow card.

Hibernians made sure of the win on the 79th minute. Imanol Iriberri played Jurgen Degabriele through on goal and the latter fired a shot past Justin Haber.

Gzira could have pulled one back during the additional time. Jens Wemmer handled the ball inside the penalty area and the referee pointed towards the spot. However, Amadou Samb was denied by Marko Jovicic.

Hibernians starting line-up: Marko Jovicic, Ferdinando Apap, Leandro Barbosa, Joseph Mbong, Jake Grech, Terence Groothusen, Bjorn Kristensen, Dunstan Vella, Gabi Izquier, Andrei Agius, Imanol Iriberri

Gzira United starting line-up: Justin Haber, Fernando Barbosa, Gianmarco Conti, Nikolai Muscat, Zachary Scerri, Rodolfo Soares, Juan Carlos Corbalan, Hamed Kone, Amadou Samb, Arthur Henrique Oyama, Jefferson de Assis

Referee: Matthew Degabriele

Assistant Referees: Alan Camilleri, Ivan Galea

Fourth Official: Emanuel Grech

BOV Player of the Match: Andrei Agius (Hibernians)