Floriana’s Sacha Borg (centre) blocking the way for Diego Pereira. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Mosta 1
Zammit 77;
Floriana 0

Ten-man Mosta had to draw on their reserves of energy to beat Floriana as Enrico Piccioni’s Blues are now on the verge of clinching a Championship Pool berth.

The narrow 1-0 scoreline might convey the impression that Mosta had to fight hard for the points. However, it was anything but as their goalkeeper, Omar Borg, was hardly ever called into action in a one-sided match which saw the Blues producing the better stuff and fashioning one chance after the other.

Manolito Micallef and Christian Martins commanded the midfield as the front duo of Gianmarco Piccioni and Kurt Zammit constantly interchanged positions as they ran at will against a slow-moving Floriana defence.

Piccioni was guilty of wasting a number of good scoring chances before Mosta opened the score. Worst was to come for the Italian striker when he was red carded with some 24 minutes to go.

Yet, that incident did not shift the momentum in favour of Floriana as Zammit scored the all-important goal to all but end the Greens’ lingering hopes of a place among the top six.

Coach Enrico Piccioni’s task was made more difficult at Mosta by the absence of two of his most trusted players as Lucas Duriska was serving a one-match ban while on-loan winger Dyson Falzon is down with injury.

Two of the three changes in Floriana’s starting formation were also enforced on Ian Dawes with Igor Coronado and Andrè Scicluna having fallen victim to injury and suspension respectively.

Despite the added protection gained by Floriana from having three holding midfielders stationed in front of the defence, the Greens were on the backfoot at the initial stages as they could not live with Mosta’s pace and precise passing which carved open their defence a couple of times in the opening period.

After nine minutes, a superb flick by Christian Martins found Piccioni in the box but he only managed a feeble shot that was easily dealt with by Daniel Hanford, the Floriana goalkeeper.

Zammit embarked on a surging run through the middle but his shot was deflected away for a corner.

Mosta’s bright moment continued. Shy of the half hour, a fast flowing movement saw Manolito Micallef slipping a through-ball to Piccioni who veered into the box before Hanford repelled his close-range effort.

Although faced with a must-win scenario, Floriana were not showing any urgency in their play but Dawes was still calm on the touchline.

On 36 minutes, Piccioni played the ball brilliantly to Zammit but he saw his effort denied by a smart stop from Hanford.

The Blues’ mentor was surely the happier of the two coaches when another counter attack saw his side carve open the Floriana defence.

Piccioni set up Martins but his deft back-heel was blocked.

Worried with the profligacy exhibited in front of goal, coach Piccioni played his trump card and introduced Diego Pereira who had left an impact in the previous match against Hibs.

But a guilt-edge chance on 51 minutes should have seen Floriana opening the score only for Diogo Pinheiro da Sousa to hit the ball wide from an inviting position.

At the other end, Floriana were leaving space to exploit as Pereira escaped his marker’s attention only to shoot over the bar.

Dawes’s thoughts on Floriana’s performance were reflected in his bold decision to make a double substitution, bringing on the half-fit Coronado and Brooke Farrugia on 57 minutes.

Yet, the pattern remained the same as the confident Mosta continued to surge forward, Hanford producing another save from Pe-reira to keep his side afloat.

Zammit and Piccioni combined perfectly but the Italian was again denied by Hanford, emerging winner in what developed into a personal duel with the Mosta man.

That, however, proved to be Piccioni’s last meaningful contribution as he was sent off for retaliation. The referee did not hesitate to show him a straight red card following a tussle with Sacha Borg that developed on the byline.

That setback only served to fire up Mosta who broke the deadlock 11 minutes later.

Latching on to a fine pass from Zammit, Pereira advanced menacingly before unleashing a fierce drive that Hanford just managed to parry. The loose ball rolled into Zammit’s path who beat the keeper in his second attempt.

The Greens failed to react and late on Yuri Messias advanced unimpeded but Hanford pushed his shot to a corner to spare his team from more blushes.

Mosta
O. Borg-6, T. Farrugia-6, M. Brincat-6, I. Grech-6, R. Ekani-6, K. Zammit-7 (85 K. Farrugia), R. Grech-6.5, M. Micallef-7, C. Martins-6 (60 Y. Messais-5), B. Kaljevic-5 (46 D. Pereira-6), G. Piccioni.

Floriana
D. Hanford-7.5, I. Edet-4, S. Pisani-4, C. Caruana-4.5, Diogo-5, C. Borg-5.5 (73 I. Galea), J. Borg-5, L. Casha-5 (57 B. Farrugia-5), R. Aguiar-5, G. Muir-6 (57 I. Coronado-5), S. Borg-5.

Referee: Alan Mario Sant.

Yellow cards: J. Borg; C. Borg; Ekani; Pereira; Grech.

Red card: Gianmarco Piccione (M) 66.

BOV Player of the match: Daniel Hanford (Floriana).