Balzan registered their second successive victory in the VBet Malta Premier after comfortably defeating Birżebbuġa St Peter’s 3-0 in a clash between the two newly-promoted sides.

Andrew Cohen’s team took control from the opening stages and established a two-goal advantage inside the opening half-hour before Lucas Macula added a third after the break.

The result continued Balzan’s encouraging start to the campaign, while Birżebbuġa suffered their fourth consecutive defeat following their promotion to the top flight.

Birżebbuġa coach Edgar Degabriele made three changes, handing starts to Pietro Tomaselli, Jacob Walker and Jackson Mendoza, while Zachary Cassar, Luis Riascos and Gabriel Costa were named among the substitutes.

Cohen made four changes to the Balzan starting formation, with new signing Eder joining Gabriel Santos, Zachary Grech and Valentino Kuach Yuel in the line-up.

Balzan needed just 13 minutes to break the deadlock. Macula did well to retain possession despite pressure from a defender before releasing Yuel, who rounded goalkeeper Chiesa and calmly rolled the ball into an empty net.

Birżebbuġa came close to responding in the 24th minute when Sekala Guehi unleashed a powerful effort from outside the penalty area which struck the crossbar.

However, Balzan doubled their advantage on the half-hour mark. Yuel latched onto a long through ball from goalkeeper Manuel Djalo before finding the unmarked Oluwatobiloba Awosanya on the right, with the latter making no mistake with his finish.

Macula almost added another before half-time, but his powerful shot from the right was turned behind for a corner by Chiesa.

Balzan remained firmly in control after the restart. Awosanya sent a free-kick just over the crossbar before seeing a diagonal effort blocked by Chiesa in the 57th minute.

The Birżebbuġa goalkeeper was called into action again four minutes later to deny a fine header from Nicholas Pulis and then produced another save from Guehi following a combination with Yuel.

The third goal finally arrived in the 67th minute. Awosanya delivered a corner from the left and Macula applied the decisive touch to flick the ball beyond Chiesa and effectively put the contest beyond Birżebbuġa.

Birżebbuġa attempted to respond, with Yuri Messias having a well-taken free-kick deflected behind for a corner with 15 minutes remaining.

Balzan comfortably controlled the closing stages, however, to secure another three points and a clean sheet, while Birżebbuġa’s search for their first points of the season continues.