Floriana 1
Sliema W 4
In the final match of the season for both teams, Sliema Wanderers turned the tables on their eternal rivals Floriana when they soundly beat them by four goals to one to end their commitments on a high.
Sliema won the first round game 1-0, the second round clash ended in a goalless draw but the Greens won the third round clash 3-1 so in this final match of the season for both clubs, Floriana were expected to prevail.
Floriana lost two of the last three matches, earning the three points in a win over Balzan. They lost 0-1 to champions Valletta last week. No players were ruled out injured or suspended. On their part, the Wanderers lost four of the last five matches and were coming from a 1-4 defeat to Birkirkara last week. Nikola Bogdanovic was suspended while Andrew Decesare, Rumen Galabov and Jerry Ani were ruled out injured.
Sliema surprisingly took the lead after just two minutes when a through pass by Frendo found Lattes who coolly slipped the ball past a hapless Jansen and into the net. A minute later Frendo beat the offside trap but his shot went well wide.
After a somewhat slow start, Floriana reacted on 15 minutes when Ryan Darmanin found some space in the box and shot well over. On 21 minutes, Darmanin was again close when he lobbed an onrushing Bonello but his shot was cleared off the line by a Sliema defender. On 29 minutes Darmanin again came close with a fine overhead kick which was well saved by Bonello.
Floriana finally levelled matters on 33 minutes when a long ball found Ryan Darmanin who in the clear coolly slipped the ball past keeper Bonello for a deserved equalizer.
The Greens continued pressing forward and Micallef almost made it 2-1 from an angle after receiving from Darmanin.
But it was Sliema who retook the advantage on 40 minutes when Mitev fired a shot from outside the box which was only partially parried by Jansen and ended up in the net.
Sliema made it three at the start of the second half when Muscat released Daniel Mitev who shot a fine curler past a hapless Jansen.
And the Blues made the points safe on 55 minutes when Alex Muscat smashed a fourth goal home from an acute angle with Floriana completely out of sorts.
The match seemed over by then with Floriana just attempting to make the score look respectable.
On 63 minutes Darmanin had a good shot which was parried for a corner by Bonello and from the resulting corner a header by Caruana was again saved by Bonello.
The game went down a notch thereafter with Sliema in complete control where they could have even added to the scoreline but the match ended 4-1 for the Blues.
Floriana: P Jansen, D Pisani, M Micallef, E Akoto (F Gusman), B Farrugia, P Doffo, J Borg (A Grabowski), T Farrugia, C Borg, R Darmanin, O Sodje (A Da Silva)
Coach: J. Brincat
Sliema W: H Bonello (K Cutajar), A Muscat, J Mifsud, D Mitev, S Bezzina, C Gatt Baldacchino, T Cilia (A Caligari), R Fenech (P Dandalo), E Lattes, C Frendo, B Muscat
Coach: D. Doncic
Referee: M. Apap
Asst.refs: T. Debono, R. Vella
4th official: A. Azzopardi
Scorers: E.Lattes 3, R. Darmanin 33, D. Mitev 40, 47, A. Muscat 55
Yellow cards: R Fenech
Player of the match: D. Mitev (Sliema W)
TMI top 3: D. Mitev 2. A. Muscat 3. R Darmanin