Marsaxlokk 4 Floriana 0
Alfred Effiong lit up the Hibernians stadium with a stunning four-goal haul to condemn Floriana to a fourth successive defeat.
Mohammed El Yamani should have made an instant impression when he met a cross by Ivan Woods in the first minute. El Yamani gave the Southseasiders a genuine early scare in a fast-paced start to the game as he nearly forced an own goal from Ruben Gauci.
From the ensuing corner, the Egyptian came close again with a lobbed header that nestled on the roof of the net.
El Yamani then had another attempt, which went high over the bar. The Floriana fans were sensing that a goal was not far away. That proved to be the case but it was Marsaxlokk who found it against the run of the play.
Picking up the ball in space, the former Floriana striker Ryan Darmanin lifted a weighted ball down the right channel into which Effiong scampered. The Nigerian let the ball run in front of him before he could slide in the ball with relative ease past a despairing Lotfi Saidi after 14 minutes.
From then on Floriana were second best, although Marsaxlokk knocked the ball about laboriously at times.
The Greens struggled to create clear-cut chances, while Marsaxlokk looked dangerous on the counter attack. Just before half-time, Saidi came to Floriana’s rescue with a double save.
He beat away Effiong’s rasping drive with his foot and bounced straight up to stop Gareth Sciberras’s follow-up.
Few moments later, Floriana survived another scare when Owen Bugeja’s backward header sailed over the bar.
Floriana rediscovered some poise after the interval and Draganov cracked an instinctive drive over the bar.
But it was Marsaxlokk who remained on the front foot with Darmanin firing at Saidi after collecting the ball on the edge of the box and sending another effort just wide, which he might been expected to score.
Yet after 52 minutes, Deanov pinged a precise lofted pass over the Floriana defence for Effiong, who used his strength to hold off Brian Said before cracking a low shot across Saidi and into the corner of the net.
Lacking little craft, Todor Raykov’s side lost steam in their search to get back into the game when Woods limped out injured on the hour mark.
In the 65 minute, Ryan Darmanin came close to putting Marsaxlokk three goals up when Deanov picked out the striker with a perfect cross but the latter headed wide with the goal at his mercy.
There was a mistaken feeling amongst the Floriana clan that with the game practically over, the Nigerian would show clemency with them but the truth was revealed 10 minutes from time.
Effiong’s third had its roots in a haphazard event that flowered into majesty. Saidi half-cleared from Darmanin’s effort but got the ball no further than the Nigerian, who settled himself before shooting unanswerably into the top of the corner.
And Effiong only few minutes to repeat the feat, capping off a sensational match with two minutes remaining, running down the middle and fending odd the attentions of Said to poke the ball beyond the keeper and claim his fourth goal.