Briffa rescues Blues with stoppage-time scorcher

Floriana 2
Sliema Wanderers 2

For much of the last decade, encounters between Old Firm rivals Sliema Wanderers and Floriana had ceased to be regarded among the highlights of the local football calendar, the reason being that the Blues were often considered too strong for the financially-riddled Greens.

This season, expectations ahead of the first meeting between these two teams rose as a result of Floriana's extraordinary start to their league campaign. Yesterday, those who ventured to the National Stadium in the hope of seeing a high-octane clash were not disappointed.

Having recovered from an early goal to seize the lead, Floriana appeared on course to extend their perfect start despite Darko Krsteski's late red card.

But the Greens' hearts sank when, deep into stoppage time, Roderick Briffa showed great composure when letting fly a sizzling shot that soared into the top left corner of Simon Agius's goal.

Sliema let out a sigh of relief but not so Floriana whose fans felt hard done by the timing of the Blues' equaliser as they claimed that referee Joe Attard should have blown the final whistle before Briffa's salvo.

Ray Farrugia had responded to his team's surprise defeat to Birkirkara by drafting Sharlon Pace back in the centre of defence as Jeffrey Chetcuti was switched to right-back.

Another positional change by the Sliema coach and Ronald Vella, his right-hand man, concerned Etienne Barbara. He started as Ivan Woods's strike partner while Aleksandar Madzar was drafted on the left of a diamond-shaped midfield.

With Adrian Mifsud not fully-fit, Floriana coach Danilo Doncic opted for a little-large strike-force as the lanky Ryan Darmanin flanked the diminutive Chris Caruana. With Mauro Brincat serving a one-match ban, Doncic deployed Clifton Ciantar on the left of midfield in a 4-4-2-cum-4-3-3 formation.

Prior to kick-off, Sliema captain Brian Said jogged into the stadium's VIP zone where he presented flowers to a club official.

Cilia blasted over from underneath the bar after Said had failed to dispossess the elusive Chris Caruana. In next to no time, Sliema threatened to go ahead but Barbara's scorcher kissed the outside of the near post.

A cohesive move by Sliema culminated with Barbara serving Roderick Bajada but the latter's effort was fisted away by Agius.

The game was 16 minutes old when Sliema broke the stalemate, Madzar squeezing a header past Agius from a tight angle following a right-wing Chetcuti cross.

Sliema were the brighter side in the initial stages but gradually, Floriana seized the initiative thanks to the industry of their wide midfielders, especially Ciantar, and Zoran Levnaic.

Sliema fell into a lull but on 28 minutes they almost doubled their lead.

Barbara delivered a square pass to Barbara whose strike from just inside the area was parried by Agius. The loose ball was rolling dangerously towards Madzar but Floriana captain Christian Cassar dived in to snuff out the danger.

Eleven minutes from half-time, Sliema would have widened their lead but for two saves by Agius on Bajada after the Floriana keeper had only managed to tip away Woods's looping cross from the left.

At the other end, Murphy Akanji rescued Sliema from potentially damaging situations when he twice pushed away Krsteski's cross from corners. Then, another well-taken corner by the Serb touched the top of the crossbar.

Both Farrugia and Doncic decided not to make changes to their starting line-ups during half-time.

Less than two minutes into the second half, Woods hit just wide after a pass from the erstwhile ineffectual Milovanovic was deflected into his path. Latching onto a pass from Woods, Barbara turned well on the edge of the area but his piledriver soared above the crossbar.

Floriana drew level in their first meaningful assault on Sliema's fort.

The Wanderers paid dearly for their failure to clear Krsteski's set-piece as the ball arrowed into the goalmouth where Darmanin's faint touch left Akanji wrong-footed.

Spurred on by that fortuitous equaliser, Floriana sought to pile more pressure on their opponents, Cilia going close with an inswinger that sailed over the bar.

Sliema had the ball in the net on 58 minutes but the 'goal' was rightly disallowed after Woods had clearly used his hands in directing Barbara's cross towards goal. The Malta striker was booked.

On the hour, Sliema were let off the hook when Cilia, running on to a lofted pass from Cassar, lobbed the ball over Akanji but just wide of the near post.

This missed opportunity for Floriana was the cue for Farrugia to withdraw Milovanovic in favour of Orosco Anonam. The latter's first contribution was to thread a through-pass towards Woods who was stopped in his tracks by Agius.

Sliema seemed to find a new lease of life, Bajada supplying a dangerous corner from the right but the Floriana defenders took the sting out of Anonam's attempted header.

From the stark possibility of falling behind, Floriana forged ahead 20 minutes from time. Darmanin, lurking at the far post, beat Akanji with a rising shot after Cilia had sent in an inviting pass from the right.

Sliema tried to stage an immediate reaction but tame attempts from Woods and Bajada posed little trouble for Agius.

Fifteen minutes from time, Farrugia introduced Matthew Bartolo, a winger, for Chetcuti and Doncic replaced two-goal striker Darmanin with Mifsud.

As the minutes ticked away, Sliema threw caution to the wind in their bid to gain an equaliser but in doing so left themselves susceptible to Floriana's counter-attacks.

With six minutes left, Floriana were reduced to 10 men after Krste-ski was shown two successive yellow cards for persistent protests.

Substitute Yala Bolasie could have wrapped the points for Floriana in the dying moments but, having burst past Pace and Said, he sent his shot just wide of the far post.

Sliema were now pushing forward frantically. Woods hit just wide and Agius looked to have preserved Floriana's advantage when saving from the unmarked Madzar. However, deep into stoppage time, Briffa, Sliema's best player yesterday, conjured up a great goal, beating Agius with an unstoppable drive.

Floriana: S. Agius-6.5, M. Micallef-6.5 ('81 Y. Bolasie), J. Briffa-6.5, D. Krsteski, D. Pisani-6, T. Cilia-7, C. Caruana-6.5 ('85 M. Sevasta), C. Cassar-7.5, Z. Levnaic-7, C. Ciantar-7, R. Darmanin-6.5 ('75 A. Mifsud).

Sliema: M. Akanji-6, I. Azzopardi-5, B. Said-6.5, N. Milovanovic-4 ('63 O. Anonam-6.5), R. Bajada-6.5, J. Chetcuti-6 ('75 M. Bartolo), I. Woods-5.5, A. Madzar-6, R. Briffa-7.5, S. Pace-6.5, E. Barbara-6.

Referee: Joe Attard.

Scorers: Madzar 16; Darmanin 52, 70; Briffa 90.

Yellow cards: Madzar; Chetcuti; Woods; Milovanovic; Ciantar; Briffa.

Red card: Krsteski 84.

BoV Player of the match: Ryan Darmanin (Floriana).