Qormi 1
Vandelannoite 70;
Floriana 1
J. Borg 58;
(aet; Floriana win 5-3 on penalties)
Stand-in goalkeeper Matthew Towns played just a shade under 25 minutes but he put Qormi to the sword when stopping a crucial penalty in a tense shoot-out to help Floriana book their place in the semi-finals.
Down to 10 men from the 71st minute after defender Jason Lee Vandelannoite’s sending-off, Qormi refused to lie down as Floriana sought to take advantage of their numerical supremacy with the scored tied at 1-1.
With no goals in extra-time, Floriana, who had keeper Lofti Saidi sent off in the first half of the additional 30 minutes, gained the upperhand in the shoot-out when Towns parried Josue’s first penalty for Qormi.
Michael Mifsud, Joseph Farrugia and Stefan Giglio all scored in the shoot-out but the Greens were deadly from the spot as Manolito Micallef, Pablo Doffo, Christian Caruana, Tyrone Farrugia and Ivan Woods were all on the mark.
With Abubakar Bello-Osagie and George Mallia ruled out by injuries, Qormi coach Stephen Azzopardi deployed Michael Mifsud as a lone striker with Josue and Matthew Bartolo granted licence to press forward from the wings.
Floriana coach Michael Woods had to make do without striker Daniel Nwoke who was suspended after being dismissed in the 1-0 win over Mosta in the previous round.
The Greens will have looked at this match as a chance to make amends for their unconvincing performance in the 3-0 derby defeat to Valletta.
Goalmouth action was at a premium, although Qormi were the more adventurous side. In their first foray inside Floriana’s half, Saidi looked to have stopped Mifsud’s attempt outside the box but the referee waved play on.
A thumping drive from the distance from Ivan Woods after 35 minutes signalled the first spell of pressure from the Greens. They maintained the momentum but relied mostly on long-range shots from Christian Cassar and Thomas Paris which faded wide.
Floriana introduced combative midfielder Joseph Borg at the beginning of the second half in a modified 4-4-1-1 approach.
Yet, the opening minutes after the restart belonged to Qormi.
Thirteen minutes into the second half, Josue profited from a goalmouth scramble to direct the ball towards Saidi who saved.
Moments later, Floriana pro-duced a stunning move which caught Qormi’s defence off balance as Borg unleashed an unstoppable shot from the distance that surprised Matthew Farrugia.
Encouraged by his goal, Borg forced Farrugia to smother the ball over the crossbar a minute later.
At this point, Azzopardi sacrificed the midfield graft of Fenech and introduced winger Cleaven Frendo.
Floriana continued to surge forward. A glancing header from Mohammed El Yamani sailed wide of the post and Woods’s run demanded a sliding intervention from Vandelannoite.
On 69 minutes, Saidi kept Floriana’s lead intact with an instinctive save to keep out Kang Ho-jung’s drive from outside the box. From the ensuing corner, Vandelannoite soared above the defence to meet Joseph Farrugia’s cross and head the ball into the net.
Vandelannoite would complete a quickfire transformation from hero to villain as a minute later, he was sent off for hitting out at striker Woods after the two had tussled for possession close to the touchline.
This setback didn’t hamper Qormi who threw caution to the wind in search of a winner. Saidi defied the Yellow-Blacks three minutes from time when pulling off the best save of the game to push away Josue’s downward header.
But Saidi’s evening soon turned sour, albeit in a controversial manner, when, seven minutes into extra-time, he fielded the ball outside the box, presumably thinking that referee Adrian Azzopardi had whistled for an offside.
Azzopardi thought differently though and sent off the bewildered Tunisian keeper. Luckily for Floriana, Woods had not effected all his substitutions and brought on Englishman Towns for El Yamani.
Qormi’s spirits rose after Saidi’s dismissal but Josue’s free-kick was fisted away by Towns.
The action swung from end to end and with few seconds of extra-time remaining, Woods muscled in a low shot but Farrugia saved to force a penalty shoot-out.
Qormi
M. Farrugia, J. Vandelannoite, S. Giglio, M. Bartolo (69 J. Chetcuti), K. Fenech (64 C. Frendo), M. Mifsud, J. Farrugia, C. Karamanolis, J. Bondin, H. Kang, Josue.
Floriana
L. Saidi, T. Farrugia, D. Pisani, M. Micallef, T. Paris, I. Woods, D. Draganov (46 J Borg), C. Cassar (70 C. Borg), C. Caruana, M. El Yamani (99 M. Towns), P. Doffo.
Referee: Adrian Azzopardi.
Yellow cards: Micallef; Josue; Doffo.
Red cards: Vandelannoite (Q) 71; Saidi (F) 97.
Attendance: 1,286.
Penalty sequence
Micallef (F) scores 1-0; Josue (Q) saved 1-0; Doffo (F) scores 2-0; Mifsud (Q) scores 2-1; Caruana (F) scores 3-1; Farrugia (Q) scores 3-2; Farrugia (F) scores 4-2; Giglio (Q) scores 4-3; Woods (F) scores 5-3.