No goals in balanced match

Qormi 0
Floriana 0

No goals were scored in yesterday's opening match as Floriana and Qormi cancelled each other out in a balanced encounter.

It was a fair outcome to a match that saw Floriana enjoy an edge over their opponents in the opening 45 minutes with Qormi staging a strong rally after the break.

Qormi may feel they deserved more than just a point, given the scoring chances they created but they were denied time and again by Floriana keeper Dejan Maksic.

Floriana, on their part, failed to reach the heights of last week's 3-1 win over Marsaxlokk. Their play lacked spark as they sorely felt the absence of playmaker Christian Caruana who skipped the match due to injury.

Qormi were without defender Shaun Tellus who was not included in the squad while striker Chucks Nwoko started on the bench after he suffered a knock in the 1-1 draw against Msida. Paul Camilleri and Joseph Chetcuti were named in coach Jesmond Zerafa's starting XI.

After serving his one-match ban in the win over Marsaxlokk, Floriana captain Mauro Brincat was expected to reclaim his place in the team but he was only conspicuous by his absence yesterday. Aleksandr Madzar was given the nod to start ahead of Ryan Darmanin.

Floriana made all the early running and after only seven minutes, Madzar created space for himself just outside the area before unleashing a powerful drive that hit the upright.

On 18 minutes, it was the turn of Joseph Borg to try his luck from the distance but his shot was easily stopped by Reuben Gauci.

Four minutes later, Qormi were almost gifted an opener when Maksic mistimed his sortie with the ball bouncing into the path of Alfred Effiong who, after evading the Floriana keeper, saw his low shot cleared off the line by the well-positioned Sunday Eboh.

The match remained balanced with both sides trying to find openings up front but with little success.

Five minutes from the break, Qormi's Joseph Farrugia hit a shot over the bar from the distance.

Floriana might have taken the lead just before half-time as Clyde Camoin's free-kick almost surprised Gauci with the Qormi keeper just managing to push the ball away for a corner.

A minute into the second half, Qormi almost struck when Chetcuti traded passes with Effiong and the winger's rasping drive just missed the upright with Maksic beaten.

On 53 minutes, the Floriana goalkeeper thwarted Qormi with a top-drawer save when he somehow palmed away Chetcuti's point-blank header that looked destined to hit the back of the net.

Qormi were growing in stature with Effiong and Chetcuti posing several problems to the Floriana defence as the Greens looked short of ideas up front.

Ten minutes from time, Effiong displayed some elegant footwork to dribble past his marker and supply an inviting cross for Chetcuti whose header was again blocked by Maksic.

Seven minutes from time, the Floriana goalkeeper effected another crucial save when he dived to his right to keep out another goalbound header from the hard-working Chetcuti.

Qormi kept up the tempo in the closing stages in search of a late winner but the Floriana defence held on to preserve the stalemate.

Qormi
R. Gauci-6, R. Forace-6, R. Dos Santos-6, M. Grima-5.5, A. Effiong-7.5, J. Chetcuti-6.5 ('86 C. Formosa), J. Farrugia-6, R. Sammut-6, K. Fenech-6, J. Da Silva-5.5 ('76 Adrian Ciantar), P. Camilleri-5.5.

Floriana
D. Maksic-7, S. Eboh-6.5, J. Briffa-5.5, C. Camoin-6, D. Pisani-5.5, M. Gauci-5.5('69 R. Darmanin-4.5), P. Doffo-6, M. Briffa-6 ('58 R. Brincat-5), O. Anonam-6.5, A. Madzar-5, J. Borg-6 ('75 L. Agius).

Referee: Clayton Pisani.

Yellow cards: Da Silva; Borg; Grima; Anonam; Eboh.

BoV Player of the match: Alfred Effiong (Qormi).