Holders Birkirkara Ready For Mgarr United Battle

Birkirkara will be kicking off their defence of the Assikura Women’s Knockout against Mgarr United at 16:30 at Dingli Ground. Vince Galea & Ryan Vella discussed the prospects of taking home the final piece of silverware and what they deem could be the determining factor between two sides who have dealt each other all extremes this year.

Aiming High

Birkirkara enter this competition with the chip on their backs once more, as the holders in the competition, having defeated Hibernians in last year’s final. Vince Galea discussed the approach, having had a season to work with his team in going into this one.

The Birkirkara coach is backing his team to rise to the challenge, “This is another competition that we will aim to arrive as high as possible. We understand the challenge we face but we believe we are well prepared.”

Meanwhile, Mgarr United have just achieved a best league finish in five years, with the team relishing the opportunity to continue in a positive manner. Ryan Vella discussed ambitions, “From the start of the season we knew things would take time for us to get the best out of our team. We feel that the past two months have been really positive and we can feel and see positive improvements in our performances. For us it’s about keeping this improvement going and ending the season in the best possible way.”

Returning Faces & Hitting Strides

Birkirkara have pushed for the majority of the season without captain Stephania Farrugia, who tore her ACL during the UEFA Women’s Champions League match against Anderlecht. Vince Galea was coy the possibility of an appearance in this afternoon’s match, “Steph is close for her return and she has been training regularly with the team. We are very happy and positive to have her with us day in day out.”

Meanwhile, Ryan Vella was probed about the recent surge in goals from January signing Luz Hernandez, “As soon as she joined our team Luz gelled really well with the rest of the players and we knew that her abilities on and off the ball would help us massively from January onwards. Even though at first she wasn’t scoring, she always worked super hard for the team. As usual once a forward gets the first goal, things get better and easier from then on.”

Expectations

The two sides have won battles against each other with big scorelines, while also sharing the points in the first encounter, making this one another tough to call fixture. The two coaches were questioned on what could be the key to separate each other on the day where a winner must be found.

Birkirkara’s Vince Galea replied, “⁠It will be another battle, the team that takes advantage and is more consistent in the game will go through. We need to be focus, concentrated and ready for everything.”

Meanwhile, counterpart Ryan Vella weighed in with similar thoughts, “As the last two results of when we played against each other show, the result will be down on who will be the most ‘focused’ team on the day. Even though it’s always a tactical battle, I feel in games like these, as much as team effort is important, individual duels can win you the game. So, all we ask for is that each player gives us their one hundred percent on the day and keep improving from the last few performances.”

The two teams will kick off at Dingli Ground 16:30, following the other quarter-final between Hibernians & Swieqi United (14:00). The winner between Birkirkara & Mgarr United will face Lija Athletic or Mtarfa, depending on the outcome between that quarter-final which will kick off at 17:00 at Mgarr Ground.

Lead Image: Elise Bajada

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