Floriana win ugly thanks to own goal
Floriana won this clash of the ‘Old Firm’ thanks to a first half own goal by Sliema’s defender Goran Adamovic to skip back into the top four as they stay unbeaten in the BoV Premier League.
Tension and nervousness always threatened to spoil this game as a spectacle and so it proved.
Floriana looked good for long spells during the first half and might have deserved their lead as they looked the neatier, more confident side, but showed enough defensive resilience to thwart their opponents.
Sliema have days like this at times, when they appear unable to rouse themselves.
Muchardi was classy enough at their heart, collecting and distributing tidily, but there was a distinct lack of flair to a team fielding three defensively-minded midfielders at its core.
They were also stretched defensively, which will have troubled the coach almost as much.
Sliema had Frank Temile suspended but coach John Buttigieg made other changes as he gave starts to Goran Adamovic, Gabriel Aquilina and Michele Sansone.
Floriana, still with coach Giovanni Tedesco banned from the sidelines, replaced Clyde Borg with James Baldacchino and Dylan Grima with Emerson Marcelina in their starting line-up.
The opening exchanges were rather sluggish. But Floriana gradually started to find their rhythm, with Pisani, Vella and Cabral very much in the thick of the action. And after a Cabral cross was headed over the bar by Fontanella, the Greens forged ahead after 20 minutes, albeit in a bizarre manner. Cabral was challenged by Adamovic inside the Sliema area and as the defender tried to block him, the ball took a deflection off his body and floated over the stranded keeper Zammit.
Floriana kept on attacking and as Vella ran inside the Sliema area with alarming ease, keeper Zammit repelled his hard drive.
The Wanderers tried to respond but their attack lacked enough cutting edge to breach Floriana’s rearguard. Frustration was evident as De Assis felt aggrieved with lack of enough protection by the referee following a couple of crude tackles on the Sliema forward, who was himself booked for simulation in the first half.
Coach Buttigieg tried to shore things up after the interval by introducing their new Moldovan striker Nicolae Milinceanu for Aquilina in the second half. His debut proved ineffective.
What ensued was a tedious, illtempered affair, lacking in quality, with both sides throwing away all tactics.
Sliema moved possession around nicely in Floriana’s half but could not find the penetration, even if the Wanderers also introduced Ryan Spiteri for Queroz for the last 15 minutes.
De Assis’ cross from the right, after going past Ruiz, contained menace but nobody could reach for it. After another neat Sliema move, Sansone had his effort blocked into a corner.
Floriana elected to sit back and defend their slender lead. They offered next to nothing as an attacking threat. The Greens had also run dry of any inspiration but the Wanderers never looked capable of mounting a comeback.
Unfortunately, as the match neared its end, both sides found themselves swamped into ineffectiveness.
Standings
P W D Valletta 11 7 3 Gzira 11 7 3 Balzan 11 7 3 Floriana 11 6 5 Hibernians 11 6 3 Sliema 11 6 2 Hamrun 11 5 2 Mosta 11 4 2 Birkirkara 11 4 1 Senglea Athletics11 2 3 St. Andrews 11 2 1 Tarxien 11 2 1 Naxxar Lions 11 1 3 Lija Athletic 11 1 2 L F APts 1 20 4 24 1 26 12 24 1 21 10 24 0 22 7 23 2 17 6 21 3 17 7 20 4 16 12 17 5 15 23 14 6 12 16 13 6 10 17 9 8 9 25 7 8 11 30 7 7 11 22 6 8 13 29 5