Floriana 2
Diogo 19; Coronado 49;
Rabat Ajax 1
Gauci 84;

After securing their Premier League status last week, Floriana have set themselves the meagre target of finishing top of the Relegation Pool. They cemented their position yesterday with a comfortable win over wooden spoonists Rabat Ajax.

The match was a one-sided affair with Floriana creating a string of scoring opportunities.

Their victory matured courtesy of goals from Brazilian duo Diogo and Igor Coronado.

So, Rabat bowed out of the Premier League with another painful defeat.

The Magpies had flirted all season with relegation. It has been an uphill struggle for Rabat who only managed 23 goals in 32 outings and conceded a staggering 91 in the process.

With strong winds sweeping across the stadium, Floriana stormed into the lead on 19 minutes. The returning Coronado was the architect with a surging run on the left before releasing Diogo who burst through before hitting past goalkeeper Andrew Zammit.

Giovanni Tedesco’s Greens kept a firm hand on the game but failed to trouble Rabat. Yet, the Magpies found themselves two goals behind soon after the break.

Caruana provided Coronado with a measured pass and the latter did well did well to stretch a leg and poke the ball inside the net.

Floriana nearly scored a third but Coronado was denied by the alert Zammit.

Late on, Shawn Gauci pulled one back for Rabat. Diego Carrillo Pendas’s free-kick took a deflection, the ball rolled into the path of the unmarked Gauci who hit home from close in.

Floriana
S. Mintoff-6, A. Scicluna-6.5, I. Edet-6, S. Pisani-6, I. Coronado-6.5 (67 L. Casha-5), C. Caruana-7 (81 D. Agius), Diogo (21 E. Briffa-5.5), S. Borg-6, C. Borg-6, G. Muir-6.5, R. Aguiar-6.

Rabat Ajax
A. Zammit-6.5, S. Gauci-6.5, D. Azzopardi-6, Z. Tanti-6, I. Carapic-6, S. Oproiescu-5.5, D. Carillo Pendas-6.5, J. Bajada-5 (85 L. Cauchi), R. Micallef-5 (87 C. Vella), M. Licari-5 (90 S. Abela), A. Azzopardi-5.5.

Referee: Sandro Spiteri.

Yellow cards: Zammit; Carapic; Edet; Pisani.

BOV player of the match: Christian Caruana (Floriana).

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