Hibernians coach Mark Miller and his Floriana counterpart Nicolas Chiesa will be driven by ambition when they lead their teams in the Super Cup final at the National Stadium on Wednesday (kick-off: 3pm).

At the start of the season, victory in the Super Cup trophy may not have ranked high on either side’s agenda. However, given the recent struggles both sides have gone through in recent weeks, victory in the Super Cup may well turn out to be a key turning point towards stepping up their ante ahead of the 2017-18 season run-in.

The Paolites are still licking their wounds as Saturday’s defeat to Premier League leaders Balzan has jolted their aspirations of successfully defending their championship crown.

Miller told a news conference yesterday tomorrow’s match can provide some solace from that disappointment and end what has been a largely a positive year with another piece of silverware.

“The Super Cup final arrives at a perfect time for us as it provides with an opportunity to bounce back from the defeat to Balzan,” the Englishman said.

“I was not too disappointed with the performance of the players against Balzan as we dominated the match for long spells but we simply could not put the ball into the net.

“We are looking forward to the match against Floriana as it’s another opportunity to bring another trophy to the club. Hibs have only won the trophy three times in their history and it would be nice to add another one.

“Surely victory against Floriana would restore some much-needed optimism among our fans ahead of the second part of the season.”

Miller admitted that Hibernians’ scoring problems are hampering his team’s chances of success this season and he admitted that he would have to delve into the market in January to rectify the situation.

“Scoring goals has been one of our biggest problems this season,” Miller said.

“The departure of Jorginho has left a huge void in our squad as we are struggling to score goals. We have also been very unlucky as the two Brazilian forwards we brought in both suffered long-term injuries so that left us quite short in that area.

“But now we just need to hang on until the January transfer window when hopefully we can bring in some additions.”

As for Chiesa tomorrow’s match is his first opportunity of winning silverware with Floriana since replacing Giovanni Tedesco as Floriana coach earlier this month.

The Argentine midfielder has called time on his playing career to concentrate full-time on helping Floriana reach their objectives for this season and said that victory in the Super Cup will provide much needed respite to the fans after a difficult period at the club.

“This is a very important game for us,” he said.

“We are coming from a very difficult period during which we lost the derby against Valletta and then suffered elimination from the FA Trophy.

“The win against Lija at the weekend has restored some self-belief in the team but deep down I know that winning silverware is the best recipe to recover from setbacks and the Super Cup comes at a perfect time for us to try and give something back to the fans.

“On a personal level, I’m really hungry to win this Super Cup as it would be the ideal way to repay the club’s faith in me when they handed me the team’s reins.

“My ambition is to continue as coach of Floriana beyond this season and winning a trophy that has been missing from the club cabinet for the past 24 years will surely the ideal way to start my career as Floriana coach.”

Varela injury

Chiesa revealed that Floriana will be without striker Ignacio Varela who suffered an injury during Saturday’s crushing 6-0 defeat of Lija Athletic and he revealed that the players are determined to win the trophy for their team-mate.

“We all feel sorry at the club for Ignacio after his shocking injury suffered against Lija,” the Argentine said.

“It’s very unfortunate situation for him as he has been a key player for us this season and we really hope that he can return with us very soon.

“Although he cannot be with us on the pitch against Hibernians we are determined to win the trophy for him.”

Floriana striker Mario Fontanella shields the ball from Martin Kreuzriegler, of Hibs.