Floriana 0
Hibernians 2
Lima 59, 82;

Two fine Jackson Lima strikes enabled Hibernians to maintain their charge at the top of the BOV Premier League as the Paolites battled their way past a resolute Floriana side that still gave their all despite off-field problems which blighted their build-up to this match earlier in the week.

It was far from a vintage performance from the Paola team though as they looked second best for long stretches of the match. Indeed, it had to be some excellent saves from their goalkeeper Mario Muscat that kept the Greens at bay.

Up front, it was Lima who provided the decisive spark in the second half when he rifled home a thunderous shot and then sealed the points with another thumping drive late on to earn his team three vital points to keep the pressure on champions Valletta.

For Floriana, this was another disappointing outcome to a match in which they had shown great spirit and commitment but the inability to turn their chances into goals came back to haunt them as the team are still in search of their first win in six matches.

The Greens came into the match on the back of a turbulent week during which they lost their coach Michael Woods who quit along with his technical staff leaving the team without an official man in charge for this match.

Added to that the Greens were without three key players as Manolito Micallef, Eric Akoto and Ivan Woods were serving a one-match ban. Andre Grabowski, Christian Caruana and Ryan Darmanin were all handed a place in the starting formation.

Hibs, on their part, were boosted with the recovery of Lima and Bjorn Kristensen and striker Luis Edison who all declared themselves fit for the match.

The match didn’t start too well for the luckless Greens as after only 15 minutes they also lost Owen Bugeja to injury. He was replaced by Malcolm Licari. That substitution saw Thomas Paris moving to a central defensive role with Licari deployed at right back.

Chances were at a premium in the opening stages as both teams were playing abrasively in the middle of the pitch with the result that referee Clayton Pisani had John Mintoff, Lima and Tarabai in his book.

The first real chance of the match arrived on 31 minutes when Floriana were awarded a free-kick.

Doffo curled the ball above the Hibs’ wall but Muscat was on the alert to parry the shot. From the rebound, Caruana fired over from routine distance.

Three minutes later, Muscat was again the protagonist as he turned to a corner Darmanin’s dipping header.

The Paolites’ defence was clearly leaking water from all sides and on 37 minutes Darmanin nodded the ball into the path of Grabowski who stormed through but was denied by the onrushing Muscat.

Hibs started to look more like themselves at the start of the second half and, in fact, two minutes from the restart Marcelo Dias dashed into the Floriana box from the right but his stinging drive was stopped by goalkeeper Patrick Jansen.

Floriana hit back three minutes later when in a quick raid Mintoff sent a low cross inside the area that was not cleared by Rodolfo Soares. In came Joseph Borg who fired over.

On 56 minutes, Tarabai picked Dias on the right and the Brazilian’s cross-shot looked to have beaten Jansen but the ball came off the bar before Tarabai hit badly inside the side netting.

Miller then withdrew Edward Herrera and roped in Peter Anizoba as he looked to strengthen his attack and barely a minute elapsed and Hibs struck... and what a goal it was.

From a free-kick, Clayton Failla delivered a short pass towards Lima who let loose a shot that flew into the top corner of Jansen’s goal.

Floriana tried to hit back immediately. Caruana released Grabowski but the Greens forward saw his shot stopped by Muscat who recovered in time to deny Caruana.

More woes were in store for Floriana on 66 minutes when Duncan Pisani was shown a straight red card after apparently hitting the grounded Lima in the face.

It was all routine for Hibs now as they wrapped up the points on 82 minutes.

Failla’s corner was half-cleared by the Floriana defence with the ball falling into the path of Lima who hit a rasping grounder past Jansen and into the net.

Floriana
P. Jansen-6, D. Pisani, P. Doffo-6.5, O. Bugeja (15 M. Licari-5), T. Paris-6, J. Borg-6, C. Borg-6, A. Grabowski-6.5, C. Caruana-6 (73 Alandson), J. Mintoff-6, R. Darmanin-5.5.

Hibernians
M. Muscat-7.5, J. Pearson-6, A. Xuereb-6, R. Soares-6.5, C. Failla-6.5, B. Kristensen-6.5 (84 A. Pulis), J. Lima-7.5, A. Cohen-6, E. Herrera-5 (58 P. Anizoba-5), M. Dias-5.5 (75 J. Vandelannoite), L. Edison-5.

Referee: Clayton Pisani.

Yellow cards: Mintoff, Lima, Edison, Xuereb, C. Borg, Paris, Doffo.

Red card: Pisani (F) 66.

BOV Player of the match: Jackson Lima (Hibernians).

Standings