Floriana coach Danilo Doncic got his changes right yesterday. His two substitutes in the second half, Mario Caruana and Mauro Brincat, scored his side’s goals to claim the third consecutive league victory, keeping them on top of the standings.

After a struggling first half, in which they took a one-goal lead and with Mqabba equalising early after the restart, Floriana had to labour harder than expected to finally, but deservingly obtain full points.

Mqabba again gave a decent performance for much of the first half but lack of experience finally let them down, conceding late goals and defeat in the face of superior opponents.

Both sides were bereft of one of their foreigners. Floriana’s best player in the Premier League so far, Krsteski has a minor injury while Mqabba’s striker Marcel Pereira was handed a one-match ban. John Mintoff started the match instead.

Christian Cassar was the inspirational figure in a rather cagey start for the leaders. His cross from the right after 20 minutes was headed poorly by Mifsud. Caruana’s grounder minutes later was easily saved by keeper Calleja.

Midway through the half, Caruana placed Mifsud’s square pass narrowly wide as Floriana started to mount some sustained pressure.

The match was 35 minutes old when the Greens broke the deadlock. Cassar’s cross from the right was headed by Gatt Baldacchino into Cilia’s path. The latter sent the ball to Adrian Mifsud to place a low shot beyond the keeper’s reach.

Mqabba must have felt hard done by that conceded goal and their immediate response nearly brought them an equalizer before halftime when Silva’s diagonal shot was tipped into a corner by Camilleri, deputizing for Agius in the Floriana goal. Before the half was over, Mifsud limped off for Floriana and Mintoff for Mqabba, as both sides were forced to effect substitutions.

Three minutes into the second half, Briffa’s late tackle on Muscat inside the area, earned Mqabba a penalty which Fabio Silva tucked away to draw level.

Floriana were thus forced to react. Christian Caruana went close on three consecutive occasions with two headers and a shot narrowly missing the target.

On the other end, past the hour, Camilleri footed out the ball before Muscat could connect.

On 69 minutes, Cilia played the ball from byeline for Caruana, but keeper Calleja was alert to block his back-heeled close effort.

Floriana restored their lead on 75 minutes. Darmanin’s header on Christian Caruana’s free-kick from the left was repelled by Calleja but Mario Caruana, who had just gone in as a substitute for Bolasie, shot in the loose ball, hitting the underside of the bar.

Another substitute, Mauro Brincat, coming in for Micallef, cemented the issue for Floriana on 87 minutes, with a well taken free-kick, beating Calleja at the top left hand corner with an exquisite shot from some 30 metres out.

Brincat was sent off two minutes later for two bookable offences. Before that goal Floriana were denied by the woodwork when Cilia rifled his shot against the bar as the Mqabba defence looked completely out of sorts.

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Mqabba: K. Calleja, A. Busuttil, I. Nogueira, M.A. Psaila (L. Galea), M. Briffa, F. Silva (E. Borg), C. Calleja, J. P. Muscat, C. Gatt Baldacchino, J. Mintoff (M. Cocks), D. Zarb

Floriana: M. Camilleri, M. Micallef (M. Brincat), J. Briffa, C. Ciantar, D. Pisani, T. Cilia, C. Cassar, Z. Levniac, Y. Bolasie (M. Caruana), C. Caruana, A. Mifsud (R. Darmanin)

Referee: S. Tanti Asst. refs: A. Camilleri, J. Spiteri 4th official: C. Pisani

Scorers: A. Mifsud, F. Silva pen, M. Caruana, M. Brincat

Yellow cards: I. Nogueira, R. Darmanin, M. Briffa, M. Caruana

Red card: Mauro Brincat (Floriana)

Player of the match: Christian Caruana (Floriana)

TMI top three: 1. C. Cassar, 2. C. Caruana, 3. J. P. Muscat