FLORIANA 1

Juninho 27

ĦAMRUN SPARTANS 0

Floriana earned a hard-fought victory over Ħamrun Spartans to return to winning ways.

Ħamrun were pushed into their own half with Juninho trying to exploit his mobility in the first half. Shy the half hour mark, the Brazilian took a ball down the right, made progress and when he found space just outside the box, he hit towards the near corner underneath the onrushing Jake Galea.

Hamrun plucked up courage as Cristian Zaccardo headed just wide on a Thiago Espindola cross.

After the break, a lightning burst on the other side by Floriana almost produced a second goal. The tricky Juninho swivelled on the left before hitting a grounder on the turn which came off the foot of the post with Galea beaten. The ball fell to Oyama whose effort looked to have hit Espindola’s arm.

A foul on Steve Pisani cost Espindola a second yellow card and an eventual dismissal. Galea was then, forced to dive to his right to push Alex Cini’s effort out.

The minutes ticked away but the match was not yet settled as Hamrun’s residual hopes of an equaliser kept flickering. Tiago Souza Da Silveira’s header landed wide from a corner.

The ball was moved quickly to Juninho who showed great skills to lift a cheeky lob over the onrushing Galea but was closed down by the Ħamrun defenders. It was to be the last act in a rousing finale.

BOV Player of the match: Juninho (Floriana).