SENGLEA ATHLETIC 0

FLORIANA 1

Keqi 16

Floriana managed to leave the Hibernians Stadium unscathed after overcoming the obstacle presented by Senglea Athletic in a match which had them stretching  all their sinews before they got their verdict.

It all looked different in the first half. Once the game began, Senglea struggled to tame the agile Lucas Vieira who breezed through the rearguard with amazing ease inside the first minuted but just missed the target as his attempt sailed over the crossbar.

Vieira made another darting  run towards goal to unleash a neat shot on the turn which was blocked by the Senglea goalkeeper Matthew Farrugia.

Just past the first quarter, Jose Arias slotted the ball towards Kristian keqi who had the better of Farrugia with a low shot that left the ardent Senglea fans in silence.

Vincenzo Potenza’s side were taken aback but they rallied in search of a quick equaliser. Marukawa Taisei cross-cum-shot was well saved by Inietim Akpan.

With Senglea making a first substitution after the interval – striker Bradley Schembri in lieu of midfielder Christian Sammut – the game came to life with Taisei’s grounder hitting the foot of the post three minutes inside the second period.

It was not long before Diego Venancio saw his 20-metre shot from freekick whiz around Floriana’s wall but Akpan stretch himself to turn it around the post.

The Nigeria-born goalkeeper pulled off another good save on Venancio with a strong left hand to tip the ball behind for a corner.

Senglea assumed command and Akpan once again demostrated his agility and qualuty with a diving save from Venancio as their personal duel continued.

The Athletic lost their momentum in the closing stages with Floriana deploying their forces more defensively.

The end came with Floriana obtaining three important points.

Floriana's goalkeeper Ini Akpan was named BOV Player of the Match.