Birkirkara 1
Muscat 47;
Floriana 2
Bonnici 29; Plut 63;

Giovanni Tedesco, the Floriana coach, had urged his players to go into their gruelling test against Birkirkara “without fear”.

With 10 points separating the two teams, not many had given Floriana a glimmer of a chance of taking maximum points, especially after they had drawn five of their opening 10 games, but their young team did exactly what their coach had asked of them.

In a game postponed twice due to the soggy conditions of the pitch at the Hibs Stadium before being eventually switched to the Tedesco Stadium, the Greens were fearless, proving more than a match for the erratic Stripes who, once again, flattered to deceive.

With Italian forward Matteo Piciollo probing for openings, youthful midfield featuring three players under the age of 22, and unyielding defence, Floriana stole the thunder from their more-quoted opponents after winning a tight, at times, cagey match by the odd goal in three.

Inconsistency has been Birkir-kara’s Achilles heel this season and their performance yesterday did nothing to allay concerns about their fluctuating form as they only flickered sporadically with coach Paul Zammit changing tactics a number of times during the game but to no avail.

Trailing 2-1 with only minutes left, Birkirkara made a belated rally but Floriana survived the onslaught as players threw themselves in the way of shots to protect their slim lead which lifted them up to seventh in the table.

While the Greens cherished a hard-earned victory, Birkirkara were left to contemplate another defeat which leaves them 10 points behind runaway leaders Hibs, also weakening their grip on second place as Valletta are now only two points adrift.

Midfielder Edmond Agius replaced the suspended Rafael Ledesma in the only change in Birkirkara’s starting XI from the 1-0 defeat of Sliema Wanderers.

The tactical strategy was the same, 3-4-1-2, with Shola Shodiya Haruna and Liliu in attack and Edward Herrera and Ryan Camenzuli doubling up as wingers.

It took Birkirkara only three minutes to fashion their first chance.

Agius directed an intelligent pass to Haruna who had cut in from the left but the Nigerian’s angled drive rolled just wide of the far post.

Floriana, who were coming from a 1-1 draw with Tarxien Rainbows, lined up in 4-3-3 fashion with the returning Senegalese Amadou Samb and Piciollo flanking Vito Plut, the central striker in Tedesco’s formation.

Up-and-coming midfielder Conor Borg, who turned for the youth team of Serie A club Chievo last season, was assigned a starting berth, filling the void left by Brooke Farrugia, suspended.

Piciollo appealed for a penalty after being challenged by Ryan Scicluna but his claims were turned down by referee Fyodor Zammit who also booked the young striker for protests.

Zammit was clearly in no mood to condone dissent as he also cautioned Floriana goalkeeper Valerio Senatore for protests.

The two teams took their time to settle. On 16 minutes, Piciollo headed wide from Steve Pisani’s corner.

As the minutes rolled by, Floriana mounted a spell of sustained pressure, piling pressure on the hesitant Stripes who struggled to get into their usual rhythm.

Birkirkara had a let-off when, midway into the first half, Clyde Borg’s teasing cross from the left dropped to Emmanuel Briffa but his effort, struck from point blank, was beaten away by Justin Haber.

With Piciollo drifting in and out of his right station, constantly drawing defenders out of position and combining well with Conor Borg, Floriana had their opponents in a tangle.

Their efforts were rewarded on 29 minutes.

Pisani’s delivery from a right-wing corner was headed on by Piciollo and Steve Bonnici nipped in to poke the ball past Haber.

A powerful run by Herrera on the right brought Birkirkara to life but the wing-back’s piledriver cannoned off the upright.

This was followed by a reminder of Floriana’s counter-attacking threat as Samb, making headway on the right, raced past his marker before passing to Plut but Alejandro Mendoza reacted instinctively to nudge the ball away from the Slovenian forward.

An overhit pass from the usually reliable Scicluna highlighted Birkirkara’s troubles. Zach Muscat was now surging forward more frequently on the right as Herrera pushed further upfield.

Two minutes from half-time, Haber fisted away another menacing corner from Pisani. The Floriana midfielder then caught the attention for the wrong reasons as he gave away a penalty for persistently tugging Muscat’s shirt as the latter tried to reach Liliu’s corner.

This decision enraged the Floriana officials, prompting Zammit to banish club president Riccardo Gaucci to the stands.

Haruna stepped up for the penalty but he was denied by a fine save from Senatore.

The half-time whistle came soon after but, less than two minutes into the second half, Birkirkara equalised.

The roles were reversed as Haruna, who missed the penalty, lofted an intelligent pass to the steaming Muscat who rifled past Senatore from an angle.

Muscat’s equaliser bolstered Birkirkara whose switch to four at the back saw Herrera shift to the left and Haruna operate more as a right winger.

Paul Fenech miscued his volley from Muscat’s dipping cross but in their next attack, Floriana restored their lead.

Another surging attack saw Piciollo advance through the middle before slipping a through-ball to Plut who raced into the box and lifted his shot over Haber.

Senatore denied Birkirkara an equaliser, stopping Matheus Bissi’s close-range flick after Fenech’s shot had dropped into the Brazilian’s path.

It was end to end stuff.

Birkirkara, now playing with three up front, strode forward in numbers but the Greens also had plenty of attacking ammunition.

Samb, sent clear by Plut, had a low strike saved by Haber who, moments later, did well to smother away Piciollo’s well-struck lob.

In the closing stages, substitute Luke Micallef’s headed clearance dropped invitingly to Haruna but the Nigerian’s first-time effort was off target.

The Stripes besieged Floriana’s box in stoppage time but Tedesco’s boys refused to yield an inch.

On the stroke of time, Birkirkara thought they had rescued a point when Vyacheslav Shevchenko’s drive had the better of Senatore but the ‘goal’ was ruled out for an offside infringement.

Birkirkara
J. Haber-7, M. Bissi-5, Liliu-5 (62 V. Shevchenko-5.5), S.S. Haruna-5, A. Mendoza-5.5 (66 Eliandro-4), E. Agius-5, P. Fenech-5.5, Z. Muscat-6.5, R. Scicluna-5 (82 L. Grech), E. Herrera-6, R. Camenzuli-5.

Floriana
V. Senatore-7, A. Scicluna-7, Douglas-7, S. Pisani-6.5, Clyde Borg-7, V. Plut-7 (75 E. Marcelina), M. Piciollo-7.5 (85 L. Micallef), Conor Borg-6.5, E. Briffa-6.5 (90 N. Spiteri), A. Samb-6.5, S. Bonnici-6.5.

Referee: Fyodor Zammit.

Yellow cards: Piciollo; Senatore; Fenech; R. Scicluna; Clyde Borg; Liliu;

Missed penalty: Haruna (B) 45.

BOV player of the match: Matteo Piciollo (Floriana).

Attendance: 986.

Standings

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Hibernians	11	10	1	0	32	6	31
Birkirkara	11	7	0	4	18	10	21
Valletta	11	6	1	4	19	7	19
Balzan	11	4	4	3	15	16	16
Mosta	11	5	1	5	11	20	16
Qormi	11	4	3	4	13	13	15
Floriana	11	3	5	3	17	20	14
Sliema W.	11	3	4	4	10	13	13
Tarxien R.	11	2	6	3	14	14	12
Naxxar L.	11	2	4	5	13	17	10
Pietà H.	11	2	3	6	7	17	9
Żebbuġ R.	11	0	4	7	12	28	4