Anonam strikes late to deny Saints

Msida St. Joseph 1
T. Farrugia 90
Floriana 2
Darmanin 78; Anonam 90+4

A last-gasp Orosco Anonam goal earned Floriana all three points at the expense of Msida St Joseph at the Hibs Ground, yesterday.

Anonam rammed the ball home four minutes into stoppage time after it looked as though the Greens had thrown away victory after conceding a 90th-minute equaliser.

But the day belonged to Floriana as they went on to bag three valuable points that lifted them to fifth place in the standings and now in a better position to secure one of the six places available in the Championship Pool.

On the other hand, Msida were left to rue their luck.

Yesterday, they fought gamely but lacked bite upfront. Coach Mark Marlow must improve his team's attacking play to be competitive for the rest of the season.

Miguel Ciantar was handed his full debut for Msida following his loan move from Sliema Wanderers last week.

Marlow was also boosted by the return of Zoran Levniac, who recovered from a knee injury, but Kevin Mifsud was unfit.

Floriana had to do without the injured Luke Agius but Anonam was back for coach Roddy Collins after missing the 1-1 draw with Sliema.

The first action of note arrived after eight minutes when Sunday Wasiu-Akanni tried to anticipate Manuel Bartolo who was out of his goal. The Msida keeper hit the English forward with his foot inside the area but the referee saw nothing untoward despite calls from the Greens for a penalty.

Both teams were very erratic in their distribution of the ball in the final third of the pitch and the first real attempt at goal arrived on 22 minutes when Pablo Doffo picked Mauro Grioli inside the area but his attempted lob was pushed away by the goalkeeper.

Two minutes later, Andrew Formosa did well to free Emiliano Lattes on the right and the Argentine quickly picked Miguel Ciantar but his header flashed wide of Paris's goal.

Wasiu-Akanni should have put his team ahead on the stroke of half-time when Baldacchino miscued his clearance attempt, the ball fell into the path of the Floriana striker who shot straight into the hands of Bartolo.

On the restart, Collins withdrew Marlon Briffa and Grioli and roped in Ryan Darmanin and Mark Spiteri as he looked to add more impetus to his team's forward line.

It was Msida who threatened first though on 54 minutes but Adam Spiteri's fierce drive was out of range.

Chances remained few and far between as both teams looked disjointed and posing little threat to the opposing defence.

On 67 minutes, Duncan Pisani created some space for himself on the right before delivering an inviting ball towards Darmanin who headed into the Msida side-netting.

Eighteen minutes from time Bartolo effected his first real save of the second half when Spiteri curled the ball into the area and Darmanin's header was kept out by a fine save from the Msida custodian.

Floriana were pressing on the accelerator now and four minutes later Bartolo fumbled Doffo's cross but Wasiu-Akanni failed to profit.

The English striker was at it again a minute later when he chested down Anonam's free-kick but his volley flew over.

The Greens' pressure finally paid off on 78 minutes when Darmanin reacted first to Doffo's free-kick to nod the ball home from close in.

Floriana almost struck a second goal when Wasiu-Akanni powered past his marker before letting loose a powerful shot that was somehow kept out by Bartolo.

The clock marked 90 minutes and those at the stadium thought Msida were down and out now. However, Lydon Micallef found extra energy to pin-point a perfect ball for Tyrone Farrugia who headed the ball into the top corner.

That was not the end of the story, however. Deep into stoppage time Wasiu-Akanni stormed into the Msida box before releasing Anonam who hit home a dramatic winner for Floriana.

Msida St Joseph
M. Bartolo-6, C. Sciberras-5.5, A. Spiteri-5 ('76 J. D'Amato), A. Farrugia-6, A. Formosa-5.5 ('60 I. Curmi-5), E. Lattes-5.5, R. Baldacchino-5, Z. Levniac-6, L. Micallef-6, M. Ciantar-5, T. Farrugia-6.5.

Floriana
B. Paris-6, J. Briffa-6, D. Pisani-6.5, B. Said-6, C. Ciantar-6, C. Borg-5.5, P. Doffo-7.5, M. Briffa-5 ('46 M. Spiteri-5.5, J. Borg), M. Grioli-5 ('46 R. Darmanin-7.5), O. Anonam-8, S. Wasiu-Akanni-6.5.

Referee: Andre Arciola.

Yellow cards: C. Ciantar, Doffo, Bartolo, Levniac.

BOV Player of the match: Pablo Doffo (Floriana).