BIRKIRKARA-1, FLORIANA-2
Floriana will meet fierce rivals Valletta in the U*Bet FA Trophy final after they had the better of Birkirkara 2-1 in today’s second semi-final.
Buoyed by their second-place finish in the league at the expense of their semi-final opponents, Floriana deserved their win as they were the more disciplined side while Birkirkara were out of sorts.
Floriana would have won by more goals had they taken the chances that came their way, especially in the final stages.
Floriana started brightly.
The game was hardly two minutes old when Christian Cassar’s right-wing corner dipped into Birkirkara’s box and Daniel Nwoke headed the ball downward. The ball landed in front of Ivan Woods who, despite having his back to goal, still managed to get a slight touch to the ball but his flick was deflected just past the near post.
Birkirkara’s Andrei Agius tried his luck with a long-range shot that was easily saved by Matthew Towns. Moments later, Birkirkara created a better scoring chance as Emiliano Lattes ran into the box from the left but his angled drive was kept out by Towns.
The Stripes threatened again when Michael Galea supplied an excellent through-ball to Lattes but out came Towns to block the Argentine’s run.
When it looked as though Birkirkara might seize control, Floriana struck on 24 minutes. Another inviting corner from Cassar was not cleared away by Birkirkara as the ball reached Thomas Paris who nodded it to Christian Caruana whose close-range header took a deflection off Zerafa on its way home.
Poor defending had again cost Birkirkara who tried to make a reaction but their confused efforts posed little trouble to the Floriana rearguard.
The first 10 minutes of the second half were short of scoring chances but on the hour mark, Floriana doubled their lead. Once again, the danger for Birkirkara came from a deadball situation as Cassar’s cross from a left-wing free-kick was flicked on by Caruana and Farrugia darted in to send the ball past Michael Fraser.
Floriana were in seventh heaven but Birkirkara got back into the game four minutes later. Galea’s shot from the distance looked to pose no particular danger to Floriana but in trying to block the Birkirkara captain’s effort, Farrugia was adjudged to have touched the ball with his hands.
Referee Andre Arciola awarded Birkirkara a penalty and Cilia drove his spot-kick past Towns to reopen the issue.
Birkirkara were now expected to raise their efforts in search of an equaliser but they survived a scare 14 minutes from the end when Nwoke incredibly headed wide from point-blank after being picked out by Cassar.
At the other end, Shaun Bajada, a second-half substitute for Birkirkara, mishit his shot from close in after receiving from Ibrahim Babatunde, who had replaced Andrew Decesare after half-time.
A minute from time, Nwoke missed another inviting chance hitting when wide. Late on, Birkirkara captain Galea miscued his attempt when found clear at the far post and Babatunde’s effort was blocked by Farrugia.