Floriana dominated the championship in 1951-52 to such an extent that they really had no competitors.

They were followed from a distance by Ħamrun Spartans but the usual challenges from Sliema Wanderers and Valletta were conspicuous by their absences.

The Greens were rarely troubled that season, losing only the first round clash against Valletta. The Citizens beat their eternal rivals 1-0 but they could not sustain their push and at the end they finished the competition in fourth place, eight points behind the leaders.

Floriana drew both their matches against the Wanderers with an identical score of 2-2 but won the rest of their matches without much bother.

One game, however, which they should never have won was the second round clash against Hibernians on March 9, 1952.

The next day, the Times of Malta carried a headline – Dame Luck robs Hibs of a point. That just about sums up the story of the match.

The game was not an example of good, scientific football but it was a brisk affair full of exciting goalmouth action.

It started with the Paolites raging around the Greens’ penalty area. However, having survived that early fury, Floriana jumped into their stride and a shot by Camilleri from well outside the box nearly caught Montebello off his guard.

Hibs soon regained the initiative. They harassed the Greens’ defence which, at times, seemed to panic.

The pressure was so great that even Pullu Demanuele and Charlie Azzopardi had to fall back to help their defence.

Then, much against the run of play, Floriana drew first blood.

A Tony Vella corner was cleared by Hibs but the ball was punted back by Grech and Demanuele smashed it in.

Hibs started the second half on attack. They made a number of promising raids but on 51 minutes Formosa was robbed off the ball by Azzopardi who let fly at goal from close range to make the score 2-0 for Floriana.

The goal shook Hibs to the core. Their defence lost its first half soundness. It was at this stage that Floriana were reduced to ten men when Leli Zammit was injured in a tackle. Still, despite the handicap, the Greens scored a third goal when Azzopardi headed home from a Vella corner.

The three-goal lead seemed to give Floriana a false sense of security and midway through the half the keeper punched clear and in nipped Gatt to drive the ball into the Floriana net.

The game now came back to life. Hibs increased their efforts and when Psaila headed in to make it 3-2, the result was thrown wide-open.

Encouraged by their supporters, Hibs staged a rousing finale that kept the crowd on its feet.

They pressed and pressed for the equaliser but luck and bad refereeing cheated them out of a draw.

Only a couple of minutes were left for the end of the game when Lolly Coreschi found himself all alone in front of the Floriana goalkeeper with the goal at his mercy.

But, as Coreschi was about to shoot, the keeper pulled him off the ball. It was a clear-cut penalty. There was no doubt about it but the referee saw nothing untoward and waved play on.

Then, in the last action of the game, Hibs should have scored the equaliser.

A melee in front of goal ended with the ball being scrambled off the line to safety by one of the Greens’ defenders.