Naxxar Lions 0
Floriana 2
Emeka 55; Diogo 67;
Chasing victory to secure their top-flight status, Floriana hit their best patch in the second half, exposing their opponents’ lack of pace in defence and midfield to seal three precious points.
Christian Caruana stole the limelight for the winners yesterday as he tormented the Lions the entire match with his fast and elusive runs as team-mate Diogo also had a very productive outing.
Floriana are safe but not so for Naxxar. Now, they’re the likely candidates to follow Rabat Ajax in the relegation trap-door after being leapfrogged by Vittoriosa Stars.
The four changes in Floriana’s starting XI were enforced on coach Giovanni Tedesco following the suspension of Gary Muir, Igor Coronado and Brooke Farrugia. Joseph Borg was unavailable through injury.
Goalkeeper Luke Pecorella made his Premier League debut for Naxxar yesterday.
Yuri Martines de Oliveira, Ryan Cassar and Milan Vignjevic were also in the team as keeper Julian Azzopardi, David Reano and Gil-mar were all suspended.
Inside the first three minutes, Naxxar protested for a penalty when Vignjevic fell to the turf after being challenged by Clyde Borg but referee Chris Lautier waved play on.
At the other end, Diogo made a mazy run, going infield from the left before unleashing an angled drive that whizzed past the far post.
Floriana had an almighty scare just past the quarter of hour mark when Martines looked certain to score as he hit a swerving shot over Sean Mintoff, the Greens goalkeeper. However, the effort grazed the far post.
On the half hour, Diogo’s free-kick was stopped by young Pecorella’s outstretched hands.
Creative football came at a premium for most of the first half with Floriana failing to translate their early superiority into clear-cut openings.
Ten minutes into the second half, Floriana had the ball in the net when Clyde Borg tapped home following a free-kick by Diogo. However, the assistant referee had raised his flag to signal an infringement.
Floriana did not have to wait long to score though as three minutes later, latching on to a fine pass from Diogo, Roland Emeka applied a deft touch to the ball to make it 1-0.
Naxxar tried to bounce back and Falzon’s surge into the box was halted by the sliding Andre Scicluna, prompting Lautier to order a penalty.
Falzon picked himself up to assume responsibility for the spot-kick but his tame effort was stopped by Mintoff.
The Lions were on the backfoot again when Caruana made headway on the left before sending his chipped effort wide off the far post.
That turned out to be a preamble to Floriana’s second goal.
Caruana ran menacingly on the right before swinging in a cross into the Lions’ box where Diogo was on the right spot to poke home.
Naxxar Lions
L. Pecorella-6, R. Bakare-6, V. Bellia-5, A. Buhagiar-5, R.G. Cassar-5, A. Decesare-5, D. Falzon-4 (81 D. Bonnici), T. Lopes-5, Y. Martens-6 (65 T. Scerri-4), F. Stojanovic-6, M. Vignjevic-6.5.
Floriana
S. Mintoff-7, A. Scicluna-5, I. Edet-6, S. Pisani-6, R. Emeka-6.5 (65 I. Galea-5), C. Caruana-7.5 (86 L. Micallef), Diogo-7, S. Borg-6, C. Borg-6, E. Briffa-6, R. Aguiar-6.5.
Referee: Chris Lautier.
Yellow cards: Caruana, S. Borg, Bellia, Bakare, Scicluna, Pisani, Falzon.
Missed penalty: Falzon (NL) 62.
BOV player of the match: Christian Caruana (Floriana).