Valletta's first victory over Floriana

No one can dispute the fact that the biggest rivalry in Maltese football is that between Floriana and Valletta. This pique between neighbours can be traced back at least to 1910-11 when the Greens chalked up their first victory over Valletta United in the National Cup final.

That was the era of Ruġġieru Friggieri, Jack Holland and the Samuel brothers, Ġużi and Salvu, on Floriana's side and Carmelo Cristiano, Colombos and Pawlu Bartolo on Valletta's.

Since then, Floriana and Valletta have been involved in many a titanic battle but, according to old-timers, the biggest ever clash between the two in those days was in 1921 in the Cousis Shield semi-final.

In 1921, Floriana were riding on the crest of a wave. They won the league championship without dropping a point. Not only that, the Greens did not even concede a goal up to their last game of the competition when, as luck would have it, they met Valletta.

Brimming with confidence, Floriana scored twice through their young centre-forward, Joe Tabona. In the second period, however, Valletta staged a great comeback.

The crowd roared and roared as Valletta flexed every muscle in an attempt to breach Floriana's formidable defence.

Valletta's valiant attempts were rewarded when Cristiano pulled one back to spoil Floriana's clean sheet. City's famous raider was already feeling the ill-effects of a terminal illness which was to take his life in its prime.

Cristiano, however, had one more piece of glory to add to his short, but glorious, career. Taking the ball to the right-hand corner flag, he sent in a perfect dropping centre which the Greens' goalkeeper misjudged and let pass over his arms and into the net.

Pandemonium reigned supreme as Valletta, boosted by this unexpected goal, pressed for the equaliser. They would have succeeded had it not been for the solid defending of Floriana full-backs Friggieri and Salvu Tabone.

The game ended 2-1 in Floriana's favour but for Valletta, Cristiano's goal was as good as victory. Celebrations went long into the night that day in the capital. This new-found spirit was carried forward to the Cousis Shield where, as fate would have it, the two protagonists met again in the semi-finals.

With the league match still fresh in their minds, this game was bound to stir the blood of even the most passive individual. For hours before the start of the game, the area around the Mile End was packed with supporters.

The game kicked off and the Greens immediately went on the attack but Ġużi Balzan in goal, helped by defenders Vella, Zammit and Colombos, defended grimly.

The second half, however, had hardly begun when Charlie Hedley scored for Floriana.

Ġużi Alamango, of Floriana, was then red-carded for a vicious foul. Despite playing with 10 men, Floriana maintained their composure. Then, the unexpected happened.

Only one minute remained and a large number of fans had already left the ground when a seemingly harmless cross was delivered into the Greens' penalty area. Goalkeeper Henry Hamilton seemed to have the ball covered but lost his balance, leaving Sant free to tap into an empty net.

Suddenly, the pitch was invaded by hundreds of ecstatic Valletta fans. When the 'invaders' eventually left the pitch, the game was continued for the remaining few seconds.

At that point, it was still not known if the game would be replayed or extra-time would be applied. In those days it was left to the two captains to decide on this issue.

It seems that Valletta were quite happy to replay the game but Floriana's captain, Jack Herbert, was so confident of his team's ability to win the game that he turned down Valletta's proposal. Despite playing with 10 men, he insisted that extra-time be played.

Extra-time was played but with only seconds left, Mattocks scored to give Valletta an unexpected but welcome victory.

Mattocks's goal sparked one of the ugliest incidents in the history of Maltese football. That, however, is another story...