Floriana 1
Coronado 45
Hibernians 0
New Floriana coach Iain Brunskill was a proud man yesterday as his new charges pulled off a shock win over Hibs at the Tedesco Stadium.
With assistant Gary Howard again leading the team from the dug-out, Brunskill must have been impressed with what he saw from the stands as the Greens put up a battling display to stun title hopefuls Hibernians yesterday.
Floriana were again indebted to the rugged quality of their defending and the heroics of their goalkeeper Tony Warner to secure a morale-boosting victory ahead of their derby against neighbours Valletta who has now been rescheduled to February 13.
Suspensions deprived the Greens of Kane Farrugia and Carl Tremarco. Udo Nwoko and Brazilian striker Rodrigo Branco were handed their debut while Steve Pisani started on the bench.
Michael Woods, the Hibs coach, roped in Scott Chircop in lieu of the injured Adrian Pulis in his only change to the starting XI.
Branco made an instant impact on the game as the Brazilian striker set on a mazy run, evaded the challenge of onrushing keeper Mario Muscat and looked odds-on to score but his grounder was cleared off the line by Zoran Levnaic.
The Paolites had been rather pedestrian up to that moment and this episode served to wake them up from their slumber.
It was not before the 17th minute that Hibs finally threatened. Clayton Failla’s shot from the distance was pushed away by Warner.
Five minutes later, Jean Paul Farrugia got his head on a searching Cohen cross but he did not make the contact he would have wanted and the ball dropped harmlessly off Warner’s far post.
On 26 minutes, Warner was called upon again to make a magnificent save from a rasping Jackson Lima’s direct free-kick.
Minutes later, Cohen displayed all his sprinting skills as he drifted down the length of the field, exchanged the ball with Farrugia before shooting, only for Warner to produce a smart save.
On 40 minutes, it was Floriana who threatened to break the stalemate when Muscat was relieved to see the ball dropping just wide of his near post as Trevor Cilia’s piledriver almost skimmed the upright .
Just before half-time, Floriana surged ahead.
The Greens were awarded a corner-kick and Cilia chipped the ball towards Coronado who powered a header past Muscat .
The Paolities began the second half in attacking vein. They were awarded a free-kick on the left and Cohen delivered an inviting ball inside the area where Farrugia found space to head the ball onto the upright.
Soares did well to reach the rebound but headed over the bar.
On 64 minutes, the Paolities were once again left to rue their ill-luck, as for the second time, they hit the goal frame.
Cohen lifted the ball towards Soares who headed against the bar with the goal at his mercy.
Nine minutes from time, the Floriana supporters thought they have scored again when Nwoko floated an excellent pass to Branco but Muscat showed fine reflexes to keep out the Brazilian’s effort.
In the dying minutes, Dias surged past Gary Roberts, the defence, though closed down the Hibs forward at which point, the Greens knew it would be a famous night for their team.
Floriana: T. Warner-7, O. Bugeja-6, T. Cilia-6.5, G. Roberts-6, I. Coronado-6.5 (90 H. Agombar), R. Branco-7, M. Spiteri-6 (60 S. Pisani-5), B. Farrugia-6, C. Borg-6, S. Borg-6, U. Nwoko-6.5.
Hibernians: M. Muscat-6.5, S. Chircop-5 (76 J. Bezzina), R. Camilleri-5.5, R. Soares-6, M. Dias-5.5, A. Cohen-7, B. Kristensen-6 (69 A. Azzopardi-4), C. Failla-5.5, Z. Levnaic-6, J. Lima-5, J. P. Farrugia-6.5.
Referee: Esther Azzopardi.
Yellow cards: Bugeja; C. Borg; S. Borg; Cohen; Roberts; Levnaic; Failla; Muscat; Nwoko.
BOV player of the match: Rodrigo Branco (Floriana).
Attendance: 509.