BoV Premier League

Floriana 1
Hibernians 0

Four days after their team kickstarted their 2007-08 league campaign with a stunning 3-2 victory over neighbouring rivals Valletta, Floriana fans were in for another treat yesterday.

Allaying fears that the euphoria of their opening-day win might have distracted them from the task at hand, the Greens continued where they left off last Monday with another disciplined performance to lower the colours of title aspirants Hibs.

An opportunistic first-half goal by the in-form Christian Caruana separated the two sides yesterday but Floriana were in no way flattered by their victory as they were the better team throughout.

Only the defiance of Hibs goalkeeper Mario Muscat prevented Floriana from increasing their winning margin against inept opponents who were a far cry from the team that won the first two honours of the domestic season.

To make matters worse for the Paolites, Clayton Failla, one of their better performers yesterday, lost his temper in the dying stages and was red-carded by referee Adrian Azzopardi after nearly coming to blows with Floriana defender Julian Briffa.

Floriana coach Danilo Doncic opted to make one change from the team that started the 3-2 victory over fierce rivals Valletta on Monday, midfielder Yala Bolasie coming in for Mauro Brincat.

Hibernians had new signing, Nigerian midfielder Uzeh Edafe among the substitutes as coach Robert Gatt retained the starting XI that drew 1-1 with Birkirkara in their opening match.

Set out in an attack-minded 4-3-3 formation with Trevor Cilia and Christian Caruana flanking central striker Adrian Mifsud, Floriana did most of the early running but they were finding it hard to turn their superior possession into openings.

Hibs, for their part, were having problems getting the ball to their strike partnership of Terrence Scerri and Julio Alcorse.

Scoring chances were a rare commodity for much of the opening 33 minutes but then, out of nothing, Caruana produced a moment of magic to fire Floriana ahead.

The nippy striker, scorer of a well-taken brace against the Citizens, showed neat footwork when, cutting in from the left, he breezed past Aaron Xuereb and Edmond Agius before guiding a low shot past the diving Muscat.

Despite the drought of scoring chances in the preceding minutes, Floriana were surely worth their one-goal lead for they had been the more cohesive side.

It was only towards the end of the first half that Hibs carved out two dangerous attempts of their own. After Simon Agius, the Floriana goalkeeper, had turned Scerri's scrambled header over the bar following a cross from Agius, Christian Cassar kept the Greens' lead intact when blocking Andrew Cohen's menacing header.

Both teams took the field for the start of the second half with the same personnel that played in the opening 45 minutes.

Floriana were awarded a free-kick in a dangerous position three minutes into the second half after Adrian Pulis tripped the overlapping Mano Micallef in the inside-right channel.

Darko Krsteski unleashed a strong, curling free-kick but Muscat was well-placed to beat the ball away.

Shortly afterwards, Bolasie got behind the slow-moving Hibs defence with a powerful incursion but his effort from inside the penalty area was touched away by the Hibs custodian who thus kept his side in the game.

Doncic effected his first substitution 12 minutes into the second half when he brought on loan signing Clifton Ciantar for Bolasie.

At the other end, Alcorse squandered a promising attack for Hibs when he made a hash of controlling Failla's low cross after the Malta U-21 international had made progress down the left.

Around the 65th minute mark, Hibs could have equalised but for an excellent tackle by Floriana captain Mifsud who had raced the length of the pitch to track down the goalbound Scerri.

The Paolites had been quick to hit on the break having just subdued another Floriana raid which originated from a Krsteski's looping cross from a free-kick.

Krsteski's excellent delivery of the ball had unnerved the Hibs defenders who also survived calls for a penalty after Caruana appeared to have been pushed off the ball in a penalty-box scramble.

A few minutes later, Caruana exploited more hesitant defending by Hibs to force his way through but his shot was parried by Muscat.

The Hibs goalkeeper then stopped a low shot by Mifsud as Floriana continued to look the likelier side to score.

Midway through the second half, Robert Gatt sent on Nigerian midfielder Edafe for Cassar, his first of three quick substitutions intended to give his team some much-needed impetus.

Yet, Floriana maintained a firm hold on the proceedings. Their hopes of recording their second victory from as many games increased when, with four minutes left, Hibs winger Failla was dismissed after receiving his second booking following a verbal exchange with Julian Briffa.

In stoppage time, Agius, the Floriana goalkeeper, easily saved a header from Scerri who had risen to connect with a free-kick from Muscat.

Floriana: S. Agius-6, M. Micallef-7, J. Briffa-6.5, D. Krsteski-6.5, D. Pisani-6, T. Cilia-6 ('83 M. Brincat), C. Cassar-6, Z. Levniac-8, Y. Bolasie-6 ('57 C. Ciantar-6), C. Caruana-7 ('90 J. Borg), A. Mifsud-6.5.

Hibs: M. Muscat-8, K. Cassar-5 ('68 U. Edafe-5), A. Xuereb-5 ('74 J. Caruana-5), R. Mintoff-6, A. Pulis-6, E. Agius-5.5, P. Doffo-5.5, C. Failla, A. Cohen-5 ('76 B. Camilleri), J. Alcorse-5, T. Scerri-5.

Referee: Adrian Azzopardi.

Scorer: Caruana 34.

Yellow cards: Cassar; Failla; Krsteski; Agius; Caruana; Camilleri; Briffa; Mifsud; Cassar.

Red card: Failla 86.

BoV Player of the Match: Christian Caruana (Floriana).