Floriana 2
Verma 22; Darmanin 79;
Sliema Wanderers 0

A revitalised Floriana beat nine-man Sliema Wanderers to end a streak of five matches without a win and slightly improve their position at the lower half of the standings.

Floriana produced a spirited performance to overpower the Wanderers who had collected seven points from their last three games but yesterday Alfonso Greco’s team showed little of the hunger and determination that had characterised their outings this autumn.

Not so can be said of Floriana who capitalised on their numerical advantage to gift coach Stephen Azzopardi his first win since joining the club after leaving Qormi.

Floriana’s line-up showed three changes from the draw against Melita in their last outing.

The suspension of Duncan Pisani paved the way for Kane Farrugia’s recall while Mark Spiteri was preferred to Joseph Borg and new signing Haygnner Henrique Celestino taking the place of Clyde Borg.

Celestino’s presence enabled Azzopardi to move Aman Verma up front behind lone striker Ryan Darmanin in a 4-4-1-1 module.

The equaliser against Valletta was not enough to convince Greco to award a starting berth to Branislav Timotic as the availability of Stefano Bianciardi relegated the Serbian to the bench. Miguel Ciantar was drafted into the team as a replacement for the injured Ivan Woods as Andrew Decesare was preferred to Luca Martinelli.

Greco deployed fellow Italian countryman Barbetti in front of a four-man defence with Luigi Ruggiero, another Italian, leading the forward line in a 4-1-4-1 formation.

Sliema’s early pressure soon receded as Spiteri glided past Decesare before flicking the ball to Darmanin whose header was pushed away by the alert Henry Bonello after 14 minutes.

The Greens’ sudden improvement reaped instant dividends as on 22 minutes a quick free-kick by Igor Coronado caught out the Sliema defence and Verma stole in to glance a header home.

Three minutes later, Bonello’s nightmare evening reached its nadir when the Greens punished the Wanderers’ flat-out approach with a rapid counter-attack. Spiteri made a quick transition from defence to attack to set up Brooke Farrugia.

The Sliema goalkeeper needed to come swiftly out of his box in a bid to clear the danger only to haul down the Floriana midfielder, with the consequence that he was sent off.

Glenn Zammit, Sliema’s reserve keeper came on for John Mintoff.

More hard luck befell Sliema on the half-hour when Alex Muscat hit the upright from close range as the Blues tried hard to get back into the game.

However, the signs at the start of the second half were hardly encouraging for the Wanderers as Spiteri’s excellent cross from the byline flew towards the unmarked Verma but the latter’s header sailed just over the bar.

Midway through the second half, Greco made a double substitution bringing on El Ghaouti and Beppe Muscat for Muchardi and Ciantar respectively.

But with 17 minutes left, Sliema suffered another setback when Mark Scerri incurred a second booking for a two-footed lunge on Brooke Farrugia. His sending-off left Greco’s team with nine men and a mountain to climb.

On 79 minutes it was game over as Darmanin increased Floriana’s advantage.

He collected substitute Valdo Alhinho’s deft through pass before slipping past his marker Clifford Gatt Baldacchino and slotting the ball behind the stranded Zammit.

In the closing stages, Sacha Borg could have piled more misery on Sliema but his thunderbolt crashed against the bar.

Floriana
T. Warner-6, T. Paris-6.5, T. Farrugia-6.5, K. Farrugia-6.5, S. Borg-6, H. Celestino-7, A. Verma-8, B. Farrugia-6.5 (75 J. Borg), M. Spiteri-7 (63 C. Borg-5), I. Coronado-6 (57 V. Alhinho-6), R. Darmanin-7.5.

Sliema Wanderers
H. Bonello, A. Muscat-5, P. Barbetti-5, J. Mintoff-5 (26 G. Zammit-5), M. Scerri, L. Ruggiero-5, A. Decesare-5, C. Gatt Baldacchino-5.5, M. Muchardi-4.5 (66 O. El Ghaouti-4.5), M. Ciantar-5 (66 B. Muscat-4), S. Bianciardi-5.

Referee: Adrian Azzopardi.

Yellow cards: Scerri, T. Farrugia, Decesare, J. Borg.

Red cards: Bonello (S) 25; Scerri (S) 73.

Attendance: 712. BOV player of the match Aman Verma (Floriana).

Standings