Rampant Greens outclass Senglea

Floriana 4
Senglea Athletic 0

Floriana stormed into the quarter-finals of the FA Trophy after trouncing Division One hopefuls Senglea Athletic in a one-sided second-round tie. There were little qualms on the legitimacy of Floriana's success yesterday at Corradino as the Greens were simply in a class of their own.

Had their forwards been more sharp Floriana's victory could have been more pronounced.

They put the Senglea defence on the back foot from early on but had to wait until the 36th minute to force an opener through Christian Cassar.

The contest was practically over five minutes later when Anthony EviParker scored the second goal for the Premiership outfit before second-half goals from Ryan Darmanin and Ian Ciantar added more gloss to their victory.

Floriana's qualification has ensured an all-Premiership line-up for this year's FA Trophy quarter-finals which will be played in the weekend of April 8 and 9.

Both Floriana and Senglea were missing their chief goalscorers for this match with the Greens having to do without the injured Adrian Mifsud while Kenneth Abela was not included in the Senglea squad.

Floriana made a strong start and they should have taken a sixth-minute lead when Cassar sent an inviting cross towards the unmarked Ryan Darmanin who headed incredibly wide from close in.

In the 22nd minute EviParker turned past his marker but shot well over.

The Nigerian was at it again five minutes later when he was first on Manolito Micallef's deflected effort but shot weakly in George Attard's safe hands.

Senglea were forced to make their first substitution on 28 minutes when the limping Edon Bobolayefa was replaced by Erin Azzopardi.

On the half-hour, Ciantar fired a rasping drive that was punched away by the well-positioned Senglea goalkeeper.

Three minutes later, Darmanin should have done better when he was freed by a delightful through-ball from Cassar but the Floriana forward was blocked by the quick-minded Attard.

Floriana were finally rewarded for their efforts in the 36th minute. Cassar was floored just outside the Senglea area and was back on his feet to curl the ball home from the free-kick.

Senglea's reaction failed to arrive and five minutes later Cilia sprinted into the opponents' half before sending a low cross towards the Evi-Parker who rammed the ball past the stranded Senglea keeper.

At the start of the second half, Jan Artz, the Floriana coach, roped in Congolese forward Rufin Oba in lieu of Ciantar while upcoming goalkeeper David Farrugia replaced Simon Agius.

On 50 minutes, Cilia raced through on the right before crossing the ball in the area, Attard failed to hold but EviParker hit wide with an open goal at his mercy. Two minutes later the Senglea goalkeeper did well to keep out Micallef's volley.

But it was all over on 54 minutes when EviParker picked Darmanin in the area and the Floriana player buried the ball home in style.

Micallef should have made it 4-0 just past the hour but his header was too central and easily handled by Attard.

Senglea fashioned one decent attempt at the Floriana goal in the 65th minute but Darren Grech's angled shot was a whisker away from Farrugia's goal.

Fifteen minutes from time, Cilia was close to put his name among the scorers only for his grounder to finish inside the side netting.

Senglea almost pulled one back ten minutes from time when Farrugia failed to hold Darren Grech's drive but the Floriana keeper was saved from his blushes by substitute Kurt Formosa who cleared the danger.

The Division One underdogs had a glorious opportunity to score in the 83rd minute when Formosa floored Grech in the area and the referee immediately pointed to the spot and awarded Senglea a penalty.

Mark Marlow took the penalty but the shot was fisted away by Farrugia.

More woes were in store for the Cottonera team who were punished even further in the 86th minute after Ian Azzopardi exchanged the ball with Cassar before unleashing a powerful drive that sailed into the net to seal a 4-0 win.

Floriana: S. Agius ('46 D. Farrugia), I. Azzopardi, I. Ciantar ('46 R. Oba), R. Gango-Rtsa, J. Briffa, M. Caruana, C. Cassar, T. Cilia ('76 K. Formosa), M. Micallef, A. Evi Parker, R. Darmanin.

Senglea: G. Attard, D. Gauci, L. Attard, D. Cosaitis, D. Grech, M. Marlow, L. McKay ('62 S. Aquilina), C. Caruana, E. Bobolayefa ('28 E. Azzopardi), G. Bonello ('76 J. Tabone), J. Borg.

Referee: Clayton Pisani.

Scorers: Cassar 36; EviParker 41; Darmanin 54; Ciantar 86.

Yellow Cards: Ciantar, E. Azzopardi.