Birkirkara 0
Floriana 1
Woods 63;
One goal was enough for Floriana to secure the three points over the struggling Birkirkara at the National Stadium yesterday.
It was another important victory for the Greens who have now leapfrogged Hibernians into second place, albeit the latter will face Ħamrun Spartans this afternoon.
Birkirkara played in front of an almost empty stadium as their supporters did not show up in protest.
A couple of fans used the virtually empty Millennium Stand to unfurl a streamer reading “when the heart returns, the Ultras will come back. Shame on you!”(“Meta tirritorna l-Qalb jirritornaw l-Ultras. Istħu!”).
Newcomer Regillio Nooitmeer was thrust straight into the thick of things, the Dutch defender partnering Rodrigo Pereira in the heart of Birkirkara’s rearguard. Shawn Bajada started at left-back for Birkirkara as Joseph Zerafa was suspended.
Spanish forward Moises Avila-Perez was the central figure in Birkirkara’s attack with Ryan Scicluna and Jorge deployed on the wings in a 4-3-3 formation.
Without Eric Akoto, suspended, Pablo Doffo switched to central defence to partner Owen Bugeja. Michael Woods opted for a 4-3-2-1 formation with Christian Caruana and Andrè Grabowski playing behind striker Ivan Woods.
A limp first 45 minutes betrayed what was at stake for both teams with barely a noteworthy chance.
The Stripes were more comfortable in possession and one such passage of play led to an opening for Paul Fenech inside the area but his finish was well saved by Manuel Bartolo after 11 minutes.
Jorge had been contained comfortably by Doffo and Bugeja as the Greens’ gameplan appeared to focus on being tight in defence and worrying about attack secondarily.
Jorge almost struck on 37 minutes but his curling shot was parried away by Bartolo.
Birkirkara continued to look the more organised side after the break but both teams seemed unable of carving out clear chances.
Floriana’s opening had been subdued as Birkirkara dominated possession but as the hour mark approached the Greens finally demonstrated a measure of self-belief and threat.
The clock marked 54 minutes when Woods’s pace took him clear of the defence to release Grabowski who was thwarted by a lunging block from Pereira.
Floriana drew courage from their spell of pressure and took the lead on 63 minutes.
Doffo picked up the ball near the halfway line and launched a spectacular long range pass for Christian Caruana who escaped from Angus Buhagiar to slip a perfect through ball into the path of Woods as the nippy striker sneaked ahead of Pereira to score with ease.
Birkirkara struggled to regain composure as they looked sloppy with their players crippled by fear and increasingly frustrated by their own shortcomings.
Zammit reacted to Floriana’s opener by first sending on Terence Vella for the injured Rowen Muscat and then Leighton Grech for Ryan Scicluna.
The Stripes finally got a clear sight of Bartolo with seven minutes remaining, when Bajada’s cross fell kindly for Avila-Perez but the Spanish striker failed to make contact with the ball as the Greens held on for a key victory.
Birkirkara
R. Gauci-5, R. Nooitmeer-6, R. Pereira-5, S. Bajada-6.5, R. Muscat-6 (76 T. Vella), P. Fenech-7, Jorge-5.5, G. Sciberras-5, R. Scicluna-5 (80 L. Grech), M. Avila-Perez-4.5, A. Buhagiar-5.
Floriana
M. Bartolo-6, O. Bugeja-6.5, D. Pisani-6, M. Micallef-6, P. Doffo-6, C. Cassar-6.5 (87 R. Darmanin), C. Caruana-7, A. Grabowski-6 (79 J. Mintoff), I. Woods-8, C. Borg-5 (46 J. Borg-6), T. Paris-5.
Referee: Esther Azzopardi.
Yellow cards: Bugeja, Muscat, Scicluna, Bajada.
BOV player of the match: Ivan Woods (Floriana).