Another abject performance by Sliema Wanderers saw them lose twice against Floriana within a week. This time, the Wanderers, playing at full strength, were dumped out of the U*BET FA Trophy at the quarter-final stage, confirming the Blues’ present crisis in a miserable season.
Sliema threw away an early lead after the restart, to concede two goals within four minutes and they never recovered. They were further handicapped by the dismissal of Chetcuti for the last quarter hour. But that is no excuse for their abysmal performance yesterday as their play lacked invention, pace or penetration.
Sliema recalled all their regular players, with Akanji, Nisevic, Briffa and Barbara back in their starting line-up. But they all failed to lift the gloom which has settled into the side recently.
By contrast, Floriana were without the suspended keeper Simon Agius and defender Krsteski as they left the likes of Bolasie, Cassar and Micallef on the bench. The latter came on as a substitute past the hour to score his side’s winner, after Floriana were allowed back into the game by the ineptitude of Sliema’s defending, in a rather cagey match.
The farcical opening half had been marked by the sort of football which acts as a cure for insomnia, with both sets of players strolling down the park, unable to knit more than three passes together. Passion, commitment, urgency – this fixture lacked them all in equal measure.
Sliema did only show up with shots from a distance, which however failed to produce the desired results. They threatened with a couple of set pieces through Bajada and Barbara, but otherwise rarely showed the slightest hint of penetration in the face of a well organised Floriana defence.
If Sliema were unimaginative in attack, Floriana were even worse as they made rare forays forward and their intentions were stifled once they crossed the halfway line.
Shortly before the break a skirmish ensued after Bajada fouled Levniac. Barbara got unnecessarily involved and was eventually booked.
Luckily for the neutrals, the deadlock was broken after only five minutes of the second half and Sliema’s lead temporarily lifted the game from its tedium.
Etienne Barbara ran in well for Woods’ through pass and beat keeper Micallef as he rushed off his line to block him.
It only took Floriana ten minutes to draw level, courtesy of some ingenuity in the Sliema defence. Hesitation between Nisevic and the goalkeeper, on a lazy ball inside the area, allowed Ryan Darmanin to nip in and stroke the ball into an empty goal.
The Greens immediately effected a double substitution, putting in Bolasie and Manolito Micallef. And on 64 minutes Floriana were in front. Caruana ran in towards the byeline from the left. His shot from a tight angle was footed by Akanji and substitute Micallef powered his shot in the roof of the net.
What was perplexing was that Sliema were unable to summon enough efforts after falling behind, playing like a collection of individuals. The final ignominy for Sliema came on 77 minutes when Chetcuti received his marching orders, after the assistant’s intervention, for what looked like elbowing Caruana near the touch line.
And with Floriana looking composed in defence, they remained the better of two disjointed teams, to make further progress.
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Floriana: J. Micaellef, J. Briffa, S. Eboh, M. Sevasta, C. Ciantar, Z. Levniac, M. Brincat, J. Borg (Y. Bolasie), T. Cilia (M. Micallef), C. Caruana (D. Pisani), R. Darmanin
Sliema W: M. Akanji, B. Said, B. Nisevic (I. Azzopardi), M. Scerri, A. Da Silva (C. Ventura), R. Bajada, M. Bartolo (A. Muscat), J. Chetcuti, I. Woods, R. Briffa, E. Barbara
Referee: A. Casha asst.refs: I. Spiteri, M. Debono 4th official: A. Azzopardi
Scorers: E. Barbara, R. Darmanin, M. Micallef
Yellow cards: Z. Levniac, E. Barbara, R. Briffa, B. Nisevic, A. Da Silva, J. Briffa
Red card: J. Chetcuti