It had to be a goal in the final 20 minutes of a rather scrappy match for top club Sliema to beat the one at the other end of the table. A Bogdanovic strike finally settled matters against ten man Floriana who otherwise performed creditably throughout the encounter.

League leaders Sliema were obviously looking for no less than three points in their fixture against Floriana and the opening minutes proved that they were in no mood to rest on their laurels. Still, the Greens were pretty aggressive in midfield and the Blues were finding it hard to make inroads.

Floriana could have gone ahead on the 25 minute mark but a cross from the active Cilea was not pounced upon by the Green attack with Akanji managing to collect the ball. On their part, Sliema had their first clear-cut chance on 28 minutes when Joe Brincat saw his effort well saved by Agius.

Otherwise the first half produced absolutely nothing of note with both sides pretty much boxed up through a total lack of ideas. The Blues also made two early substitutions due to injuries with Brincat off for Muscat and Farrugia in for Lombardi.

Floriana were quite unfortunate to start the second half with ten men as Mifsud received his marching orders for a second bookable offence. Sliema should have scored on 50 minutes when a Bogdanovic cros found Woods alone in the box, but Agius brilliantly blocked the forward's effort. The match was now also showing signs of livening up a bit.

The Greens had a wonderful opportunity through a magnificent solo effort by Trevor Cilea who danced and waltzed around the Sliema back four but his effort finished up just wide of the post. Floriana continued playing impressively with Julian Briffa heading just over the bar from a good position on the hour mark.

Still, Sliema finally broke the deadlock on 71 minutes. A fine cross by Farrugia found the erstwhile Bogdanovic who volleyed beautifully past a hapless Agius. The Blues could have added a couple more towards the end but were home and dry although their performance was far from what was expected. And Floriana could have equalized in the dying minutes but Darmanin somehow put Cilea's perfect cross wide.