Darmanin hits three as Floriana down Msida

Floriana 4, Msida St Joseph 2

Ryan Darmanin was the toast of Floriana as the towering striker scored a hat-trick to lead the Greens to a precious 4-2 victory over relegation rivals Msida St Joseph at the Tedesco Stadium.

This being Floriana’s first match since their Relegation Pool fate was confirmed, victory was a must for them to increase their advantage over Msida but the Reds were also determined to win and close the gap on the Greens and Hamrun Spartans.

Msida dominated long spells of possession but Floriana’s counter-attacking strategy paid off as they scored two late goals to secure victory and increase their lead over Msida to eight points at the start of the Relegation Pool. Msida St Joseph opened the scoring after 12 minutes with a fine goal.

Tyrone Farrugia stole the show with a ferocious free-kick that soared past Floriana goalkeeper Bernard Paris and into the top-left corner of the net. The Saints had been the better side in the opening stages but they failed to hold on to their lead form long.

On 19 minutes, Floriana levelled matters, Ryan Darmanin scoring with a close-range header from Sacha Borg’s corner. Scoring chances were few and far between in the remainder of the first half but two minutes from the break, Floriana took the lead. Msida defender Matthew Borda was guilty of hitting a short backpass to his goalkeeper and Darmanin duly profited as he rammed the ball past Bartolo.

Msida saw more of the ball in the second half as they pushed for an equaliser. Paris kept Floriana’s lead intact with saves from volleyed shots by Kalenga Ndayi and Tyrone Farrugia.

Darmanin ended Msida’s hopes when finishing off a counter-attack to make it 3-1 nine minutes from time. Victor Zlydarev, who had just come on for Darmanin, increased Msida’s woes when he scored a fourth goal after receiving from Christian Caruana.

Two minutes from the end, Emiliano Lattes got one back for Msida. Floriana’s Zlydarev was dismissed for two bookings in the dying stages.