Valletta striker Michael Taliana. In 1986, he shared four goals with his Sliema namesake in the FA Trophy quarter-final.

In 1985-86, as in the previous season, the eight First Division teams and the Gozo selection took part in the FA Trophy.

This made the competition more interesting. With few exceptions, all matches were balanced and very keenly-contested. Although Rabat Ajax were considered favourites to win the FA Trophy, the interest was maintained right up to the end.

In the first round, Valletta beat Marsa 3-0 without really exerting themselves. Nardu Farrugia opened the score midway through the first half and from then on there was only one team in the game.

On and on came Valletta but for all their superiority they could only add two more goals.

On 34 minutes, Paul Curmi beat the Marsa keeper with a perfectly placed shot and early in the second half, Charles Magri chested the ball before shooting home.

This victory earned Valletta a place in the quarter-finals against Sliema Wanderers.

The Blues did not have a good league campaign and finished one place away from the relegation zone. In this game, however, they recaptured some of their past form and eliminated Valletta from the FA Trophy with a 3-2 victory.

The Wanderers deserved to win this game if only for their collective effort.

They kept the ball moving, keeping the Citizens huffing and puffing to find some sort of rhythm.

Ironically, Valletta could not have had a better start to the game when, after only a couple of minutes, Michael Taliana profited from some sluggish marking to slot home the first goal.

The Wanderers increased the tempo and minutes later they were awarded a penalty when Roy Davies stuck out his arm to block Michael Taliana’s low scorcher. The Sliema striker converted the kick stylishly to even up the score.

And here is the strange coincidence. There were two Michael Talianas playing in this game – one for Valletta and the other for Sliema. Between them they scored four of the five goals on the day.

Sliema kept up the pressure and a few minutes from half-time, Scerri ran on to a pass from Martin Gregory and sensing that keeper Raymond Mifsud was expecting a cross he slid his shot home from an angle.

The second half started more or less on the same vein.

Sliema played the best football and on 59 minutes, their Michael Taliana hit the ball in with clinical accuracy to put the Blues two goals in front.

However, three minutes later Valletta pulled a goal back when Theuma dived full-length to handle Michael Taliana’s cross. The Valletta striker took the kick himself to open up fresh hopes for his side.

The Citizens stepped up their game and forced the Blues to pull all their men behind the ball.

However, there was more brawn than brain in Valletta’s efforts and although they created a couple of good scoring chances they failed to save the game.

This defeat brought to an end a rather mediocre season for Valletta but to keep the records straight one must say that Rabat Ajax won that season’s FA Trophy for the first time in their history after beating Żurrieq 2-0 in the final.