Champions Valletta chalked up their first league victory of the season when second half goals from Lateef Elford-Aliyu and Abdelkerim Nafti earned them a 2-0 win over Floriana at the National Stadium this evening.

The Citizens were in control right from the outset and on 15 minutes they came agonisingly close to an opener when Steve Borg sent a dipping cross towards Hugo Faria who nodded the ball towards Raphael Kooh-Sohna whose first-time shot came off the upright.

Floriana’s response came on 22 minutes when Brooke Farrugia hit a curling drive that was blocked in two attempts by Valletta goalkeeper Nicky Vella.
Eight minutes from the break, Senatore had to dive to his right to push away Fenech’s low drive.

Agius was clearly unhappy with proceedings and on 61 minutes he withdrew Caruana and Kooh-Sohna and roped in Adrian Zahra and Lateef Elford-Aliyu as he looked to infuse some fresh ideas upfront.

That proved to be a masterstroke from Agius as Elford-Aliyu took just three minutes to leave his mark when he was put clear by Bajada’s defence-splitting pass and the English striker cooly slotted past Senatore.

Elford-Aliyu almost struck again a minute later when he was again put clear by Nafti but this time the City striker was denied by Senatore.

Any hopes Floriana might have had to rescue the match was all but extinguished five minutes from time when in a swift break Fenech powered forward before teeing up Nafti whose curling drive wrong-footed Senatore.

Valletta midfielder Ryan Fenech was voted as the BOV Player of the match.