Lija Athletic 0
Floriana 3
Ivan Woods scored a brace as Floriana eased into the second round of the FA Trophy with a 3-0 win over Lija in Corradino, yesterday.
Woods, who hopes to be included in Malta’s 18-man squad for Wednesday’s Euro 2012 qualifier away to Croatia, gave Floriana an early lead and wrapped up the win with a perfectly-struck free-kick, 18 minutes from time.
The Greens had taken only six minutes to open the scoring. Christian Cassar’s pass from midfield landed in the path of Woods who drilled his shot past Lija keeper Sean Mintoff.
Pablo Doffo, one of only two foreigners in Todor Raykov’s starting formation, threatened to further compound matters for the Division One outfit as the Argentine made a strong diagonal run and let fly a dipping shot that sailed just over the bar.
True to expectation, the early exchanges belonged to Floriana. On 24 minutes, Ryan Darmanin flicked Mark Gauci’s cross from the left to Micallef but the latter’s attempt was dealt with by Mintoff.
Marko Potezica temporarily broke Floriana’s dominance with a run into the box but Tyrone Farrugia dispossessed the Serbian forward.
At the other end, Mintoff denied Gauci with a fine save. The Lija no.1 was prominent again when he blocked a dangerous cross by Micallef who had dashed past three defenders from the left.
The Greens continued to run the show, Mintoff again thwarting Micallef after the latter had been put through by Cassar.
An isolated breakaway by Lija almost yielded an equaliser on the stroke of half-time. Duncan Pisani’s clearance dropped to Wayne Borg St John whose grounder took a deflection and came off the upright.
Lija showed more fight as the second half got under way but Floriana continued to fashion the better chances. Darmanin had a goalbound effort blocked by Andre Scicluna and the unmarked Gauci fired wide at the far post.
A Cassar shot flew just wide after Lija had partially cleared Doffo’s corner.
Floriana made the game safe with a second goal 18 minutes from time. Having won a free-kick after being hauled down by Antonio Saliba on the edge of the box, Woods arrowed his free-kick into the corner of the net.
Six minutes from time, the Greens made it 3-0, Clyde Borg rifling home after connecting with Micallef’s measured cross from the left.
In the closing stages, Mintoff denied Floriana a fourth goal when he pushed away Christian Caruana’s header from Michael Mecerod’s cross.
Lija: S. Mintoff, A. Spiteri, A. Saliba, D. Scerri, A. Sacco (81 B. Antignolo), M. Potezica, W. Borg St John (81 G. Barry), K. Darmanin, A. Scicluna, A. Dzanovic (57 A. Buhagiar), M. Fleri Soler.
Floriana: L. Saidi, O. Bugeja (28 C. Borg), B. Said, D. Pisani, T. Farrugia, M. Gauci (61 C. Caruana), P. Doffo, C. Cassar, M. Micallef, I. Woods, R. Darmanin (70 M. Mecerod).
Referee: Fiodor Zammit.
Yellow cards: Scerri; Saliba; Potezica.