Floriana-Pieta H. 4-0
Floriana: M. Camilleri, I. Azzopardi, R. Gango Rtsa, M. Caruana, D. Pisani, W. Gomes, A. Mifsud, S. De Silva (K. Formosa), C. Cassar (J. Briffa), T. Cilia, M. Brincat (C. Caruana)
Pieta H : A. Hogg, D. Okonkwo, B. Sciberras, M. Deanov, C. Sammut, A. Spiteri, D. Camenzuli, S. Kondev, A. Debono (C. Calleja), E. Herrera (R. Camilleri), A. Decesare (D. Mifsud)
Referee: C. Pisani Asst.refs: P. Agius, J. Camilleri 4th official: P. Caruana
Scorers: C. Cassar, C. Caruana, W. Gomes, T. Cilia
Yellow cards: A. Debono, A. Hogg, C. Cassar, D. Camenzuli, C. Caruana
Player of the match: Andrew Hogg (Pieta H)
TMI top three: 1. T. Cilia 2. A. Hogg 3. W. Gomes
Floriana hit four goals past helpless Pieta Hotspurs in the final ten minutes of a boring match which produced good goals but lacked quality.
It is a flattering win for Floriana and too harsh a scoreline on the Hotspurs, who, for almost 80 minutes, had traded equal punches with their opponents, although devoid of scoring ideas.
This was a game that, until late, almost refused to spark into life. Of course, it was between two teams yet to show signs of real consistency. Floriana had failed to win any of their previous three league matches while Pieta, still winless at the bottom of the table, collected only one point from their last four matches.
They were looking upon their new coach Carmel Busuttil, who took over the reigns after Vittorio's departure, to improve on that dismal record and ease some of the already mounting pressure.
Floriana put plenty of effort but they lacked decent finishing. They looked mostly menacing with Cilia's crosses from both flanks, although they found little support.
On one occasion, midway through the half, with goalkeeper Hogg out of his line, Gango Rtsa headed inches wide.
Pieta, who included Debono and Herrera in their starting line-up, showed an inclination to go forward, but so rarely the co-ordination or penetration to disturb the Floriana goal.
The only noteworthy episode of a dull first half came on 37 minutes. Cilia was blocked by the onrushing Hogg, when put through inside the area by Mifsud, and fell, with the referee awarding Floriana a penalty. The Pieta keeper and Cassar were booked after a short skirmish which ensued between the two and when it was back to normal, Hogg saved superbly Adrian Mifsud's penalty kick. Floriana's chance went to waste.
After that Floriana were forced to substitute the injured Brazilian De Silva and on the stroke of halftime, Cilia turned well and, facing goal, sent a diagonal low shot tantalisingly off target.
Unfortunately, the pattern of the game did not change much in the second half and for endless moments it was real boring stuff as the ball continued to flash from one box to the other in somewhat scrappy fashion.
With the match heading for a stalemate, Floriana broke the deadlock with ten minutes remaining. Christian Cassar beat Hogg with a delightful curling free-kick at the top corner from the edge of the area, after Camenzuli had fouled substitute Christian Caruana.
That goal gave Floriana the required impetus and soon after Cilia shot Mifsud's pass over the bar.
With Pieta surging forward in search of an equaliser, Floriana exploited their gaps at the back. On 84 minutes, on a fast break, Cilia played the ball square to the advancing Christian Caruana who slotted the ball into an unattended goal.
On 90 minutes, Cilia did all the work on the right and crossed low from the byeline for Wendell Gomes to shoot in his side's third goal and deep into added time, Trevor Cilia completed his excellent individual performance scoring the fourth, as he lobbed the ball over the onrushing Hogg to complete the rout.