SLIEMA WANDERERS 1 FLORIANA 2

Floriana beat Sliema to earn the Old-Firm derby honours.

An incident which had a huge bearing on the match was a controversial penalty and expulsion of goalkeeper Timothy Aquilina just after the break.

Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

With Sliema trailing by a goal as and facing the prospect of playing the entire second half with ten men, they never really troubled their opponents and it was Floriana who dominated the proceedings to earn a merited victory.

After 24 minutes, Gary Muir made good progress on the right flank before serving Alex Muscat whose first attempt was repelled by the defence but with the rebound he squared for Mark Scerri who under the pressure from Emanuel Briffa, succeeded to head the ball home.

With a balanced encounter in the pipeline and both sides struggling to produce some fluid moves, the Greens equalised eight minutes from half-time. A delightful ball from Chiesa paved the way for Villa to drift into the penalty as he took one touch before arrowing his shot over Timothy Aquilina who remained rooted to his spot.

Azzopardi’s men must have felt hard done by going into the break level with Floriana but things went much worse for them a few minutes after they headed out of the changing rooms when Villa put the Greens ahead in controversial way.

Chiesa was again the provider as he flicked the ball for Villa who outsprinted Aquilina who rushed out of his lines to try and close the way for Argentine striker who was clear on his way to goal. The striker came crushing down following Aquilina’s challenge. Referee Malcolm Spiteri pointed to the spot and dismissed the goalkeeper. But TV replays showed the goalkeeper did not touch Villa. Obviously, the decision did not go down well with Sliema coach Stephen Azzopardi.

He immediately withdrew Ledesma to rope in reserve keeper Glenn Zammit in goal. Mario Fontanella stepped up for the kick but his well-place shot was saved by the agile Zammit only for Villa to be the quickest on the rebound and prod the ball home.

The Wanderers were knocked off their stride by this sudden twist and with a man down, they never succeeded to venture close to their opponents’ goal.