Floriana coach Guido Ugolotti is expecting his players to show their true character when the Greens take on the resurgent Senglea Athletic side as the BOV Premier League returns on the top of the local sporting agenda between today and tomorrow.

Floriana’s Clyde Borg (right) launches an attack against Senglea Athletic.

Although much of the attention of media pundits and football fans has been reserved for the fascinating battle for the league title and the European places, the relegation tussle is equally turning out to be tight.

While Pietà Hotspurs and Qormi are looking increasingly desperate to move away from the bottom two places in the standings, the race to avoid the third-from-bottom spot, that will condemn the recipient to a play-out match against the third-placed side in Division One, is looking tighter.

At present, Senglea Athletic are holding this position on 17 points but are just one point adrift of St Andrews and Floriana with Mosta and Tarxien Rainbows a further point ahead.

This scenario inevitably increases the importance of this evening clash between Senglea and Floriana with both sides desperate for three crucial points.

Floriana come into the match under intense pressure following their shocking defeat to bottom side Qormi and coach Ugolotti is expecting a strong response from his players.

“This is a massive match for our season,” Ugolotti told the Times of Malta yesterday.

“The defeat against Qormi was a huge blow for us as it pushed the team into the relegation battle. Our performance against Qormi was very disappointing and I expect the players to show their character and battle for every ball so that we can return home with the right result.

“So far this has been a topsy-turvy season for us with the team producing inconsistent performances. We were excellent against Birkirkara and then we failed to perform against Qormi even though we played with the same 11 players and this is not acceptable.

“The time has come for the players to take their responsibility and the match against Senglea is the perfect opportunity for them to make amends and lead the team to safer waters.”

Ugolotti cannot field his strongest formation this evening as wing back Jurgen Pisani must serve a one-match ban but otherwise he has no selection problems.

The Floriana coach admitted that the Greens have struggled with loss of focus in key moments during matches and warned his players that they cannot afford such lapses against what he described as the most in-form side of the division.

“To be honest, our poor results of late have arrived primarily through lapses in concentration from my players in key moments,” Ugolotti said.

“Against Senglea we cannot afford such lapses as they will surely punish us. We are playing against a team who in my opinion are playing the best football in the division.

“They are coming from a very strong performance against Valletta so we have to be cautious.

“It will be important for my players to start the match strongly and ensure they keep control of the match. If we give Senglea the chance to dictate the match they have the players to hurt us.”

On his part, Enzo Potenza, the Senglea coach, said that it’s difficult to classify Floriana as a relegation rival as he believes that they boast a much-superior crop of players to the other teams fighting to retain their top-flight status.

 “I’m actually surprised to see Floriana in the lower parts of the standings as they have a squad of players who is equal to top teams such as Balzan, Birkirkara and Sliema Wanderers,” Potenza said.

“Since Guido Ugolotti took charge of the team they have improved significantly their performances and I felt that in a number of matches they were unlucky not to take all three points.

“For us it will be a very difficult match and it will be important that we can maintain to produce the same level of football expressed in the last few weeks.”

Senglea come into the match in impressive form as they are unbeaten in 2019 winning four league matches and holding Valletta 3-3 in their last outing.

Despite these spate of results, Potenza said that his team have not attained anything yet and there was still a long way to go before ensuring their top-flight status for another season.

“It’s true that we have picked up many points in the first part of 2019 but that only helped us to get back in the reckoning to avoid the drop,” the Italian coach said.

“There are still a lot of matches to be played and it will be important that we continue to show the same kind of consistency we displayed in the last few weeks.”

Programme

Today
Hibs Stadium: 6pm Senglea Athletic vs Floriana; Hibernians vs Tarxien Rainbows.
National Stadium: Balzan vs Valletta.

Tomorrow
National Stadium: 2pm Mosta vs Pietà Hotspurs; 4pm Sliema Wanderers vs Ħamrun Spartans.
Tedesco Stadium: 2pm Birkir-kara sv St Andrews; 4.15pm Qormi vs Gżira United.