Temile caps perfect afternoon for City

Valletta 1
Floriana 0

This was not a vintage Valletta performance but the title hopefuls did just enough to eke out a 1-0 victory over arch-rivals Floriana yesterday.

Coming from a hard-earned 1-1 draw with Birkirkara, the Citizens gave their fans the perfect Easter treat as their success over their chief adversaries propelled them back to the summit of the Premier League table.

This came about after Marsaxlokk, who started the day one point above Valletta, went down 2-1 to Birkirkara in yesterday's early kick-off.

A sizeable crowd watched Valletta and Floriana tear into each other but the fare was generally scrappy.

Out of the title reckoning and still without a win in the Championship Pool, Floriana succeeded in giving their rivals a good fight but a goal by Frank Temile late in the opening period swayed the balance in favour of Valletta who appeared to have a slight edge over their opponents in terms of flair and punch up front.

Temile had been declared fit to start after his presence was put in doubt by pain in his knees. Paul Zammit, the Valletta coach, handed starting roles to Stefan Giglio and Bryan Agius who replaced the suspended Heiner Backhaus and Steve Bezzina respectively. Striker Ian Zammit was preferred to Dyson Falzon.

Danilo Doncic, the Floriana coach, decided against risking Yala Bolasie from the start as the English winger has yet to regain full fitness. Defender Julian Briffa was restored to Floriana's first XI as Doncic deployed Mano Micallef as a left winger in a 4-5-1-cum-4-3-3 formation.

After three minutes, Christian Caruana waltzed his way into the City box but his central shot was punched away by Andrew Hogg.

Scoring chances were scarce for much of the opening 15 minutes with the Citizens, who had skipper Gilbert Agius taking up a holding role in midfield alongside David Camilleri, encountering problems to find a way through the Floriana defence.

On 14 minutes, a tame header by Sebastian Monesterolo brought a routine save from Simon Agius. A better chance fell to Josef Mifsud when Camilleri's curling cross from a right-wing free-kick found him unmarked at the far post but the header from the Valletta defender sailed over the bar.

The game was 26 minutes old when Floriana came close to taking the lead. Darko Krsteski floated a cross into the goalmouth from a free-kick, Camilleri failed to clear but Zoran Levnaic skewed his shot over the bar.

Another trademark Krsteski cross again raised the alarm in the City defence as the ball sailed towards Micallef who fell on the turf as he was challenged by Justin Grioli. "Penalty" shouted the Floriana faithful but referee Clayton Pisani ignored their calls.

Two minutes past the half-hour, Agius prevented Valletta from scoring when parrying a shot by Giglio.

Creative football was proving hard to come by at a windswept National Stadium. Six minutes from half-time, a free-kick by Camilleri was blocked by Floriana's defensive wall.

On the stroke of half-time, Valletta forged ahead. They were awarded a free-kick wide on the right after Krsteski was adjudged to have brought down Temile. Camilleri's set-piece cross flew towards the centre of the six-yard box where Temile outjumped Agius to send a thumping header into the net via the crossbar.

Less than six minutes into the second half, Monesterolo created space for a shot but his piledriver flew wide of the far post. The Whites would have doubled their lead three minutes later but for Briffa who slid in to clear Monesterolo's dangerous low cross.

In a rare Floriana attack, Mauro Brincat guided a pass to Micallef in a central position but the latter's effort from outside the area lacked precision.

Krsteski then hit wide from an angled position after Hogg failed to hold Trevor Cilia's corner from the right. Doncic announced his intent to increase the pressure on Valletta on 66 minutes when he sent on Bolasie and striker Ryan Darmanin for Briffa and Levnaic respectively. Zammit's response was to introduce Dyson Falzon for the tiring Temile.

The Greens tried to raise their efforts as the end of the game approached but the City defence, led by Kenneth Scicluna and Mifsud, was up to the challenge.

Valletta: A. Hogg-6.5, J. Grioli-6, J. Mifsud-6.5, K. Scicluna-6.5, B. Agius-6.5, D. Camilleri-6, G. Agius-6.5, S. Giglio-6 ('88 K. Fenech), I. Zammit-6.5 ('85 K. Magro), F. Temile-6.5 ('74 D. Falzon-6), S. Monesterolo-5.5.

Floriana: S. Agius-6, J. Briffa-5 ('66 Y. Bolasie-5), S. Eboh-6.5, D. Krsteski-6.5, C. Ciantar-6, C. Caruana-6, M. Micallef-5, C. Cassar-6.5, Z. Levnaic-5 ('66 R. Darmanin-4), T. Cilia-5, M. Brincat-6.

Referee: Clayton Pisani.

Scorer: Temile 45.

Yellow cards: Levnaic; Camilleri; Eboh; Temile; Cilia; Briffa; Agius.

BoV Player of the match: Frank Temile (Valletta).