Pietà Hotspurs 2
Floriana 1

Pietà Hotspurs threw the relegation race wide open after coming from a goal down to beat Floriana by the odd goal in three in a hard-fought contest yesterday.

It was a merited success for the Hotspurs who looked the more determined side throughout the 90 minutes and deservedly bagged the three points to move into second place in the Relegation Pool on 11 points, just two behind Floriana and one ahead of Hamrun Spartans and Mosta.

Things didn't look encouraging for the Hotspurs after they fell behind to an Adrian Mifsud penalty just past the hour mark. However, Pietà refused to give up, going on to launch a wave of attacks which gave them two quick goals and a potentially crucial win in the space of three minutes.

Floriana coach Jan Artz was still without defender Ian Azzopardi due to an ankle injury but he welcomed back in the fray Clifton Ciantar. The latter earned a place on the bench after recovering from a cruciate operation.

Pietà coach Georgi Deanov, yesterday forced to make do without his son Martin Deanov and seasoned defender Pierre Aquilina, surprisingly opted to start with the bulky Chris Okoh upfront alongside Claudio Calleja.

Pietà seemed to have an edge over Floriana in the opening stages. Karl Sammut should have given his team a dream start when, after 10 minutes, he sidestepped the challenge of Julian Briffa and Mario Caruana only to conclude wide from a few metres out.

For the next 15 minutes, there was little entertaining fare as both teams showed signs of nervousness with a series of tough tackles which gave referee Alan Mario Sant some tough time to restore order.

Floriana's first serious attempt at goal finally arrived in the 34th minute when Christian Cassar sent a dangerous cross towards Mifsud whose flick forced Andrew Hogg into a fine reflex save.

Just before half-time, Anthony Eviparker pounced on a poor clearance from David Camenzuli but the Nigerian opted to shoot instead of advancing with the result that his effort was blocked by Pietà centre-half Bernard Sciberras.

Barely a minute into the second half, Floriana were forced to make a substitution when Trevor Cilia limped out injured and was replaced by Christian Caruana.

On 55 minutes, Svetlan Kondev curled in a dangerous free-kick that was well blocked by Simon Agius, the Floriana goalkeeper.

Two minutes later, Filip Marius stole possession in midfield and served the speedy Calleja who turned past Riad-Mynel Gango-Rtsa but his shot finished well over.

Kondev forced Agius into a fine acrobatic save a minute later as Pietà remained firmly on top. On 61 minutes, Silvan Ciscaldi's piledriver was blocked by Agius.

However, it was Floriana who broke the stalemate on 62 minutes. They were awarded a penalty after Ciscaldi handled the ball inside his team's penalty area and from the resultant spot-kick, Mifsud drilled the ball home.

Calleja had an excellent opportunity to put Pietà back on level terms when profiting from a rebound in the area but his effort from close in was deviated to a corner by Briffa.

The ensuing flag-kick was cleared by Floriana in the path of Mifsud who ran half the pitch before serving the advancing Eviparker who, with only Hogg to beat, blasted incredibly wide.

Shortly afterwards, the woodwork denied Pietà an equaliser when Sammut delivered a teasing ball towards Okoh who looked certain to head the ball home but Agius flicked the ball onto the bar before the Greens cleared the danger.

However, Pietà's insistence was finally rewarded on 79 minutes. Kondev came up with a teasing free-kick into the path of Marius who unleashed a powerful volley that flew into the roof of the net via a deflection.

The Hotspurs were not finished yet and eight minutes from time their fans were on their feet again to celebrate another goal.

Kondev was again the provider from a free-kick, the ball fell to Sciberras whose drive was cleared off the line by Gango-Rtsa but in came Andrew Decesare to ram home.

Floriana now threw everything forward in search of an equaliser and they almost succeeded four minutes from the end but Gango-Rtsa's close-range effort was blocked by the diving Hogg.

The Hotspurs kept defending in numbers to hang on to their slender lead to the dismay of the Floriana clan who are now back in the thick of the relegation mire.

Pietà: A. Hogg-6, C. Okoh-6, B. Sciberras-6, S. Ciscaldi-6.5, C. Calleja-6.5 ('88 M. Galea), C. Sammut-7, D. Camenzuli-6, S. Kondev-7.5, F. Marius-6.5, A. Decesare-7 ('83 A. Spiteri), R. Grech-6.

Floriana: S. Agius-6, J. Briffa-5.5, M. Caruana-6, I. Ciantar-6, R.M. Gango-Rtsa-6, T. Cilia-5.5 ('47 C. Caruana-5.5), C. Cassar-5, A. Eviparker-5, M. Micallef-6, A. Mifsud-5.5, R. Oba-5.

Referee: Alan Mario Sant.

Scorers: Mifsud 62 pen.; Marius 79; Decesare 82.

Yellow Cards: Decesare; Briffa; Kondev; Gango-Rtsa; Marius; Calleja.

BoV Player of the Match: Svetlan Kondev (Pietà H.).