Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/919364
maltatoday SUNDAY 24 DECEMBER 2017 Sports 52 FOOTBALL Football - A year in review WARREN ZAMMIT THE BOV Premier League started with a shocking result as Hibernians were defeated 3-1 by the newly promoted Ħamrun Spartans. Supporters were criti- cising the appointment of Mark Miller and many were predicting a difficult season for the Paolites since among many factors, Hibs reduced their budget and started to involve youth players such as Jurgen Degabriele, Johann Bezzi- na and Joseph Mbong. On the other hand, Birkirkara started the campaign on a high after a great adventure in Europe that saw them making it to the third preliminary round of the Europa League. Their first re- sults were two comfortable 4-0 wins against St Andrews and Tarxien Rainbows. In addition to Birkirkara, Balzan also had a positive start. In fact, many foot- ball enthusiasts considered them as favourites to win their first honour. As time went by, Balzan kept showing consistency and climbed first in the table for a number of weeks. However, Hibs and Valletta improved a lot and were a constant threat for Balzan throughout the whole campaign. The same cannot be said for Birkirkara who had a run of neg- ative results that put them out of the title challenge. To make things worse, their goalkeeper at the time, Miroslav Kopric was charged with match-fixing. In addition, the stripes were al- so denied from participating in Europe as their application for the licence was rejected. When the season went into the most crucial part, Balzan were also out of the title race after los- ing crucial encounters against Valletta, Hibs, Birkirkara and Sliema Wanderers. On the oth- er hand, Valletta were seen as the only team who could chal- lenge Hibernians for the title. However, during their last three matches, Valletta suffered disap- pointing defeats at the hands of St Andrews, Tarxien Rainbows and Ħamrun that saw them fall- ing to fourth in the table. This scenario meant that the Paolites were declared champions before playing their last match against neighbours Tarxien Rainbows. On the other end, this was also a season to forget for Pembroke. Together with Mosta, Pembroke struggled a lot during the past season and looked destined for the first division. To make things more complicated, they also had a 5-0 win over Mosta being over- turned to a 3-0 defeat following an appeal by Mosta. This was their final blow as from then onwards, they lost all matches except for a 2-1 win over Ħamrun. In their final match against Mosta, they were defeated 4-2 and were au- tomatically relegated to the first division. On the other hand, Mo- sta played a play-off match against Qormi which they won 3-1. FA Trophy As the second most glorious award in Maltese football, many teams attempt to capture the FA trophy. However, it is a trophy in which some surprising re- sults take place and last season's trophy was not an exception. In fact, champions Hibernians were defeated in the third round by Senglea Athletic following ex- tra time. Valletta also suffered an early elimination as they were defeat- ed by Balzan in the fourth round of the trophy. PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTINE BORG Floriana players celebrate winning the FA Trophy Hibernians' players celebrate their BOV Premier League victory