FLORIANA 1 BIRKIRKARA 1

In a tale of two halves, Birkirkara and Floriana shared the spoil, with the consequence that both sides dropped precious points in their bid to keep in touch with leaders Balzan.

Birkirkara seemed to have put their last unproductive match against Hibernians completely behind them in a first enterprising half but Giovanni Tedesco’s gamble to ditch his conservative tactics paid off as Floriana rose to the challenge after the break.

Both teams went for a brisk opening with Plut and Temile giving Floriana’s defenders something to think about with their pass-and-move game. Camenzuli and Vella were doing likewise at the other end with incursions on the wings.

Finally, it was Plut who took his chance superbly on17 minutes ramming home an unstoppable shot from Dimitrov’s corner which was too hot to hold for Justin Haber.

The Floriana’s reaction was spontaneous. The intelligent Camenzuli was out on the other end after a move that started by Chiesa but his angled effort was charged down by Miroslav Kopric into a corner. Shy the half hour mark, Camenzuli’s rising shot skimmed the bar.

After change of ends, Tedesco flagged his intentions to go for broke by bringing on striker Ignacio Varela for defender Andre' Scicluna.

Kopric had to block on Fontanella who was clean through after unpicking Floriana’s offside trap. Moments later, Camenzuli, gunning against his parent club, saw his low drive finishing just wide.

The pressure on Birkirkara’s fort was gradually mounting even if confidence at the back never really deserted them.

On 57 minutes, Birkirkara survived an almighty scare. Kopric partially cleared Varela’s point-blank effort but, the ball landed at the feet of Jurgen Pisani whose shot looked to have beaten the Birkirkara goalkeeper, only to be stopped by the upright.

Floriana were not to be denied three minutes later. Floriana skipper Chiesa belied his diminutive stature to rise above Birkirkara’s towering defence and nod home Jurgen Pisani’s cross.

On 70 minutes, a good Cain Attard move on the right set up Nikola Vukanac but his firm header brought a one-hand save from Haber as the Stripes finally managed to come out of their area confidently with the ball, stopping the tide keep drifting towards their half.

Birkirkara tried hard to break the deadlock but Attard’s header three minutes from time whizzed past the target.