Igor Coronado (right) scored Floriana’s winner. Photo: Paul Zammit Cutajar

Floriana 2
Muir 17; Coronado 53;
Mosta 1
Fernandes 6;

A fine solo effort from Igor Coronado handed Floriana a morale-boosting victory as the Greens came from behind to overcome a stuttering Mosta yesterday.

It was a hard-earned victory for Floriana who showed tremendous spirit to recover from a low-key first-half display before clicking into gear after the interval.

Inspired by the strong running of Coronado and Steve Pisani, the Greens took control of proceedings and once their Brazilian striker put them ahead, Ian Dawes’s men kept Mosta under check to clinch a third league win of the season that lifted them off the bottom spot.

Mosta misfired badly.

After taking an early lead, more was expected of them but they simply fizzled out and ended up dropping valuable points in their bid to establish their position in the top six of the standings.

Mosta coach Danilo Doncic effected just one change to his starting XI with latest signing Harouna Bara drafted in place of Jonas Ekani who was not in the squad.

Floriana handed a start to Christian Caruana. He filled the void left by Daniel Bogdanovic, who is serving a club suspension. Andrew Scicluna missed out with ankle trouble as Sacha Borg started at left-back with Gary Roberts taking a central defensive role.

Mosta were off to a flyer as they grabbed the lead on six minutes.

Bojan Kaljevic released Christian Fernandes with an astute backheel and the Brazilian striker hit a low shot that had the better of goalkeeper Daniel Hanford. The Greens tried to hit back and on 15 minutes Caruana was picked in the area by Brooke Farrugia but he miscued his header from routine distance.

Parity was restored on 17 minutes. Floriana were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the area and Gary Muir’s inswinger flew into the top corner of the net.

Those present may have thought that the game would burst into life but instead there was a lull in both teams’ play, their approach severely undermined by poor passing and a series of fouls.

In fact, the next scoring opportunity arrived two minutes from the break when Hanford misjudged Kane Farrugia’s set-piece cross but luckily for the goalkeeper Kaljevic failed to direct his header towards the unguarded Greens’ goal.

On the restart, Bara almost put Mosta back in front but his angled drive went wide.

However, it was Floriana who seized the advantage with a vintage strike from Coronado on 53 minutes.

The Brazilian, who until that point had struggled to find openings, took possession on the left and breezed past Alex Cini before hitting a grounder that had the better of Omar Borg.

Doncic tried to infuse some impetus into his team when he effected a double change as Mark Brincat and Nicola Cosentini were drafted in at the expense of Kurt Zammit and Bara.

Tyrone Farrugia, who advanced to a midfield position, tried his luck from the distance but his effort flew well over the Floriana goal.

Mosta held a territorial edge but they only went close to an equaliser in time added on.

Faria’s delivery flashed across the Floriana goal but none of the Mosta players were on hand to connect as the Greens held on to gain three priceless points.

Floriana
D. Hanford-5.5, I. Edet-6, S. Pisani-6.5, G. Roberts-7.5, C. Caruana-5.5 (87 L. Casha), I. Coronado-6.5, C. Borg-6, J. Borg-6, B. Farrugia-6 (71 E. Bonello), G. Muir-6.5, S. Borg-6.

Mosta
O. Borg-5, A. Cini-5 (82 I. Grech), K. Farrugia-5.5, T. Farrugia-5.5, M. Micallef-6, K. Zammit-5.5 (65 M. Brincat-5), L. Duriska-6, R. Faria-6.5, C. Martins-6, H. Bara-6 (65 N. Cosentini-5), B. Kaljevic-5.5.

Referee: Trustin Farrugia Cann.

Yellow cards: S. Borg; B. Farrugia; Caruana; T. Farrugia; Coronado.

BOV player of the match: Igor Coronado (Floriana).