Floriana add to Wanderers' misery

Floriana 2
Sliema Wanderers 1

Sliema's season lurched from disappointing to disastrous yesterday. Out of contention for the league title, the Wanderers were banking on success in the FA Trophy to salvage some lost pride but they stumbled at the first hurdle, losing 2-1 to Floriana in the quarter-finals yesterday.

For the umpteenth time this season, Sliema failed to deliver the kind of stirring performance expected of a team boasting some of the country's most gifted players. However, elimination from the FA Trophy looked highly improbable for them from the moment Etienne Barbara fired the team ahead early in the second half.

Yet, Sliema, once again, pressed the self-destruct button and Floriana were quick to punish their opponents' psychological and tactical weaknesses as they overturned the deficit with two goals in the space of five minutes. To add insult to injury for the faltering Blues, they ended the match with 10 men after Jeffrey Chetcuti was shown a straight red card for violent play.

The Old Firm rivals may have shared a steely resolve to prevail in this quarter-final but the team selections suggested that different criteria were adopted by the two coaches when deciding on their first XI.

Sliema coach Stephen Azzopardi handed a first-team recall to a host of seasoned players who have not figured regularly of late, the likes of goalkeeper Murphy Akanji, defender Branko Nisevic and Barbara. By contrast, Danilo Doncic, the Floriana coach, did not give in to the temptation of restoring captain Christian Cassar and Manolito Micallef, two players who were not in the squad for the 2-0 win over Sliema in the league the previous weekend.

Young goalkeeper Jurgen Micallef deputised for the suspended Simon Agius and Manuel Sevasta replaced Darko Krsteski, who was also serving a one-match ban.

The game was just over two minutes old when Sliema threatened to seize the lead. Roderick Bajada produced a looping cross from a free-kick close to the halfway circle and Brian Said capitalised on the loose marking in the Floriana box to direct a downward header towards goal. For a brief moment, it looked as if Said's attempt had caught Micallef by surprise but the keeper's belated dive was just enough to prevent the ball from crossing the line.

After 11 minutes, Roderick Briffa, yesterday deployed at right-back in a flexible 4-1-2-3 formation, made a perfectly-timed run to latch onto a cross from the left but the first-time effort from the Malta international drifted wide of the far post.

Sliema were the more adventurous side with Barbara, Ivan Woods and Matthew Bartolo stretching the Floriana defence with their sprightly movement and interchanging. However, scoring opportunities were something of a rarity for much of the opening 25 minutes as the prudent Greens, who had Ryan Darmanin operating as a lone forward, dealt with everything Sliema threw at them.

After 27 minutes, Bajada tried his luck from a free-kick but his effort whistled past the far post. Barbara went closer to breaking the deadlock, his shot from the distance bouncing just wide of the post.

Sliema now pressed forward with renewed conviction, Joseph Borg rescuing Floriana from a dangerous situation when clearing Barbara's set-piece cross.

Six minutes from half-time, tempers almost flared inside the Floriana half after Levnaic appeared to have been nudged to the ground by Barbara. A bout of pushing and shoving ensued but the players soon came to their senses and further trouble was averted. Barbara was given a yellow card for his misdemeanour.

Within five minutes of the start of the second half, Sliema edged ahead. Running onto a through-pass by Woods, Barbara burst through the slow-moving Floriana defence and unleashed a shot that had the better of Micallef despite the latter getting a hand to the ball.

One-nil down and with his team toiling to make an impression in attack, Doncic was about to effect a double substitution when his team gained a surprise equaliser on the hour mark.

A speculative cross by Levnaic from a central position was initially intercepted by Nisevic but a misunderstanding between the Serb and Akanji was exploited by Darmanin who nipped in and lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper.

Floriana's goal didn't dissuade Doncic from changing two players as Yala Bolasie and Micallef came on for Joseph Borg and Trevor Cilia.

Doncic's decision paid off spectacularly as less than four minutes from his introduction, Micallef fired Floriana ahead, lifting the ball into the net from point blank after Akanji had parried an effort by Christian Caruana.

An ecstatic Micallef celebrated his goal by running towards the Floriana bench and then to the supporters, kissing the club's crest.

Azzopardi responded to adversity by bringing on Alex Muscat and Ian Azzopardi for Bartolo and Nisevic respectively but the Blues' predicament deepened when Chetcuti was expelled by referee Casha after his flailing elbow caught Caruana in the face as the two chased possession.

Casha brandished the red card after consulting assistant referee Ingmar Spiteri. The decision infuriated Chetcuti who claimed that he had not deliberately hit Caruana.

As the minutes weighed down, Sliema tried to make a reaction but they were too tense and demoralised to trouble the well-drilled Greens who defended their lead wisely to seal their place in the last four.

Floriana: J. Micallef, J. Briffa, S. Eboh, E. Sevasta, C. Ciantar, Z. Levnaic, M. Brincat, J. Borg ('61 Y. Bolasie), T. Cilia ('61 M. Micallef), C. Caruana ('84 D. Pisani), R. Darmanin.

Sliema: M. Akanji, B. Said, B. Nisevic ('77 I. Azzopardi), M. Scerri, A. Rocha Da Silva ('84 C. Ventura), R. Bajada, M. Bartolo ('74 A. Muscat), J. Chetcuti, I. Woods, R. Briffa, E. Barbara.

Referee: Adrian Casha.

Scorers: Barbara 50; Darmanin 60; Micallef 65.

Yellow cards: Levnaic; Barbara; R. Briffa; Nisevic; J. Briffa.

Red card: Chetcuti (S) 78.