RABAT AJAX 0

FLORIANA 5

Pisani 3; Coronado 8; Muir 79 pen; Diogo 89, 90

Floriana earned a comfortable 5-0 victory over Rabat Ajax whose limitations left them no options but to go almost exclusively for caution.

The game was only 126 seconds when the first signs that this was going to be Floriana’s day emerged. Steve Pisani underlined his rich seam of form when letting fly a thunderbolt from just outside the box that beat Jonathan Azzopardi, the Rabat custodian, hands down as the ball arrowed into the top corner.

Rabat’s troubles to deal with Igor Coronado’s swift incursions down the left flank were laid bare in the eighth minute, when the Brazilian had no mercy for Gauci who surged clear of the Ajax defender before darting into the box and fired a rising shot in the top corner.

Things went from bad to worse for Rabat at the start of the second half when they were reduced to 10 men as Ryan Micallef was shown a straight red for a needless tackle on Christian Caruana 25 seconds from restart.

Floriana slowly began to make the most of the extra man advantage and started to once again take control of the game. In the 57th minute, Azzopardi did well to tip Gary Muir’s free-kick round the ball.

Rabat’s slim prospects of forcing their way back into contention were over twelve minutes from time when Floriana were awarded a penalty as Andrè Scicluna went down under the challenge of Josef Caruana inside the box. Gary Muir had the better of Azzopardi with a low shot.

Galvanised by that goal, Floriana maintained their foot on the accelerator, Azzopardi pulling off another save to tip away Muir’s long-range shot.

One minute from time, Diogo Pinheiro got the goal he deserved with a composed strike, taking advantage of the good work from Coronado to score the fourth for the Greens.

And with the Rabat players pleading with the referee to put them out of their misery, one more moment of brilliance from Diogo who swept past three defenders before curling his shot into the far corner from a tight angle.