Floriana 1
Coronado 53;
Vittoriosa Stars 2
Guerrero 48; Sidibe 68;

Starting the match six points behind Floriana in the Relegation Pool and with direct rivals Qormi and Naxxar having won their matches earlier in the afternoon, Vittoriosa’s survival hopes were all but written off by some critics before kick-off.

Yet, Oliver Spiteri’s troops responded in style sending a clear warning to the other strugglers in the Premier League that they will be no pushovers in the tussle against the drop.

Now, the Greens are also deeply embroiled in the relegation mire, something which did not go down well with most of their fans who stayed behind and protested outside the stadium doors.

Spiteri’s starting XI showed three changes from their draw against Tarxien. Midfielder Gilbert Martin failed to recover from a nagging injury and was replaced by Siraj Arab. Carl Sammut and Clive Brincat were back at the expense of Michael Camilleri and Malcolm Buttigieg.

Floriana’s line-up showed only one change from the 2-1 loss to Qormi, Brooke Farrugia starting ahead of Christian Caruana.

Vittoriosa’s aggressive start had Farrugia hooking Brincat’s headed effort off the line.

On 17 minutes, Daniel Hanford, the Floriana goalkeeper blocked a menacing free-kick by Oscar Guerrero.

Igor Coronado tried his luck with a long-range drive with Mario Muscat, the Vittoriosa Stars goalkeeper, stretching himself fully to turn the effort to a corner.

Yet Ian Dawes’s troops were relying too much on hopeful shots from the distance. After 38 minutes, Gary Muir’s effort was easily dealt with by Muscat.

At half-time, Dawes tried to inject some power in his midfield by bringing on Sacha Borg for Farrugia but the Greens still remained too predictable.

On the other hand, Vittoriosa’s resolve to take maximum points was in abundant evidence when Marcelo Pereira got his head to Guerrero’s corner but his effort went just wide.

Moments later, Guerrero’s free-kick on the right eluded a clutch of Floriana players and finished into the bottom corner.

Vittoriosa’s joy was short-lived though as five minutes later Floriana were back on level terms thanks to Coronado who was left un-marked and lashed the ball into the roof of Muscat’s net after a corner landed into his path.

The tit-for-tat nature of the game persisted.

On 68 minutes, Guerrero underlined his excellent distribution skills as his looping free-kick from a wide position on the left soared dangerously towards the far post where Ousmane Sidibe dashed in to head home to make it 2-1.

On the other side, ten minutes later, substitute Caruana, coming on for Steve Pisani, launched a perfectly-timed run into the box to meet Sacha Borg’s pass with a first-time drive that Muscat did well to keep out.

With one minute remaining, Vittoriosa suffered a blow when midfielder Filipe Aguiar was sent off after collecting two bookings in quick succession, the second for remarks to the referee.

As Vittoriosa were struggling to contain Floriana’s late surge, the fourth official’s board signalled six minutes of stoppage time but Spiteri’s men held on for victory.

Vittoriosa Stars
M. Muscat-6.5, C. Brincat-6, O. Sidibe-7, C. Spiteri-6, M. Pereira-6.5, F. Aguiar, O. Guerrero-8, Siraj Arab-5.5 (62 M. Camilleri-5), L. Torri-6 (71 F. Arriagada), Samir Arab-6, C. Sammut-5 (81 R. Mifsud).

Floriana
D. Hanford-6, A. Scicluna-5.5, I. Edet-5.5, S. Pisani-5 (70 C. Caruana-5) I. Coronado-6, Diogo-4.5, J. Xerri-6 (86 M. Briffa), C. Borg-6.5, J. Borg-6 , G. Muir-6, B. Farrugia-5 (46 S. Borg-6).

Referee: Andre Arciola.

Yellow cards: Siraj Arab; Farrugia; Guerrero; Pisani; Torri; Aguiar.

Red card: Filipe Aguiar (V) 88.

BOV Player of the match: Oscar Guerrero (Vittoriosa Stars).

Standings