Ħamrun Spartans 1
Calabretta 59
Floriana 1
Darmanin 79

Ħamrun Spartans seemed to have had the first victory of the season sewn up ten minutes from time before a mistake from young goalkeeper Andrea Cassar gifted Floriana the equaliser.

The Spartans fans were left reeling in the 79th minute when Cassar first dribbled Floriana striker Ryan Darmanin, only to dawdle on the ball as the striker returned to rob him to slot home the vital goal.

It was a disastrous moment for Cassar who turn from hero to zero after a string of smart saves which kept Floriana at bay.

There was further frustration for Stefan Sultana earlier on when striker Terence Scerri limped out with what looked like a serious injury and then nine minutes from time, Roderick Fenech was dismissed for a rash challenge.

Sultana had opted for a 4-3-2-1 formation with Terence Vella and Scerri leading the attack.

Floriana counterpart, Mark Wright named four debutants in his starting line-up. Goalkeeper Jonathan Debono made the selection just in time after signing from Mosta yesterday as he was joined by the British trio of Aaron Brown, Carl Tremarco and Aman Verma.

Trevor Cilia, who had started the Sliema match on the bench, yesterday was preferred to Clyde Borg.

Tremarco showed his qualities after five minutes when stepping up to take a free-kick he curled the ball round the Ħamrun wall only to be thwarted by a fine one-handed save from Cassar.

In the eighth minute, however a slick Floriana passing move that included a backheel from Christian Caruana found Tremarco’s compatriot Verma but the striker was blocked by Fenech.

With no recognized strikers in the initial XI, Wright deployed Caruana as a lone striker with Cilia and Duncan Pisani on the wings. With Tremarco covering his back, Pisani needed to spend little time worrying about defensive duties. His straightforward attacking forays on the left flank created havoc in the Ħamrun area and midway through the first half, Floriana had a shout for a penalty waved away when the defender went down under the challenge of Fenech.

This incident seemed to rouse Ħamrun though, and they went on to dominate large chunks of play but they created few clear-cut chances and their tactic of sending crosses into the box failed to unsettle the towering pair of centre-backs of Tyrone Farrugia and Brown.

Whatever the Wright said to his player during the half-time talk worked, as the Greens took the field with renewed verve.

Their passing and probing helped them to engineer two goal-scoring chances in quick succession when Caruana slid the ball for Verma who unleashed a powerful drive which was pushed away by Cassar.

Moments later, Cilia sprinted past the onrushing Cassar before serving Verma who blasted over.

But it was Ħamrun who snatched the lead on the hour mark, completely against the run of play when from a Nikolay Bozhov pass, Gianluca Calabretta anticipated Debono to head the ball in.

Floriana seemed a little clueless in response, Cilia set off on a twisting run on the right before playing in substitute Darmanin whose swerving effort went just over.

But the Greens were again caught napping at the back as Calabretta made a jinking run on the left flank before hitting a cross-shot that was repelled by Debono.

Wright’s men grabbed their deserved equaliser albeit in a very fortuitous way when Cassar tried to dribble around Darmanin only to gift possession to the Floriana striker to nod the ball home.

The Spartans’ night took another turn for the worse when Fenech clumsily lunged at Verma to earn a straight red card nine minutes from time but they held on to take another point.

Ħamrun Spartans: A. Cassar-5, G. Calabretta-7, R. Fenech-, M. Grima-6, T. Scerri (16 R. Spiteri-6), T. Vella-5 (80 D. Camilleri), D. Zerafa-6, A. Ivanov-6, A. Yoshev-6, L. Vitanov-5.5, N. Bozhov-6.

Floriana: J. Debono-5, A. Brown-6.5, T. Farrugia-6, A. Verma-7, K. Farrugia-6, B. Farrugia-5 (62 C. Borg-4), V. Alhinho-4 (70 O. Bugeja), T. Cilia-7, D. Pisani-6, C. Caruana-6.5 (56 R.Darmanin-5), C. Tremarco-5.

Referee Marco Borg.

Yellow Cards Verma, Grima, Cilia, Yoshev, Borg.

Red Card Fenech (Ħ) 81.

Bov Player Of The Match Gianluca Calabretta (Ħamrun Spartans).

Attendance 1,012.

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