Balzan-Floriana 0-0
Balzan: D. Miguelez Martinez, J. Grioli, S. Bezzina, A. Scicluna, R. Pereira, F. Vignaroli, L. Sciberras, D. Grima, E. Beu (M. Spiteri), G. Calabretta (L. Micallef), JL Armario Negrin (R. Darmanin).
Floriana: D. Hanford, A. Scicluna, D. Bogdanovic (L. Casha), G. Roberts, I. Coronado (D. Pinheiro), S. Pisani (C. Caruana), C. Borg, J. Borg, B. Farrugia, G. Muir, I. Edet.
Referee: A. Azzopardi.
Asst refs: R. Vella, A. Borg Cardona.
4th official: M. Apap
Yellow cards: R. Pereira, JLA. Negrin, I. Edet, C. Borg,
Player of the match: I. Edet.
TMI Top 3: 1. I. Coronado, I. Edet, J. Grioli.
Balzan and Floriana earned a point apiece from their bottom-end of the standings clash yesterday at the Victor Tedesco Stadium.
It was a fair result which helped Floriana to move on the two-point mark after having started the season on minus six points. On the other hand, Balzan managed to halt a negative run which had seen them losing four matches in succession – a run which led to the dismissal of coach Ricardo Tognatti and the appointment of Jesmond Zerafa the past few days. Balzan now have five points.
Jesmond Zerafa was therefore making his debut on the Balzan bench while for Floriana, Daniel Bogdanovic was returning to the side after injury. However, he must have suffered a recurrence to his injury as he was substituted midway through the first half.
In the opening 45 minutes, at least in the first 25 minutes or so, play was mediocre with neither side managing one decent effort on goal.
Good play was at a minimum, but in the final 20 minutes, the game sprang to life with Floriana, in particular, creating some scoring opportunities which, however, were never turned into goals.
Balzan also had their good moments and even found the net through a splendid move just before the interval, but the point was disallowed on grounds of offside.
In the second half, play was again mostly mediocre with goalmouth actions few and far between.
The Greens appeared to be slightly more methodic with Igor Coronado a master in midfield as was Justin Grioli in the Balzan side. However, they found little or no cooperation from their team-mates.
Both sides took a long time studying each other and the first action worthy of note arrived on the 23rd minute when Balzan pushed forward through Grioli who set Negrin in the Floriana area, but Scicluna was on hand to clear in extremis to corner.
Three minutes later, at the other end, Floriana were awarded a freekick on the edge of the area, but Bogdanovic’s low effort went just wide.
In the 31st minute, from a Coronado cross, Bogdanovic’s flick forced Balzan goalie Miguelez Martinez to turn to corner with difficulty.
Three minutes later a fine solo move by Coronado ended with a fine through pass to Clyde Borg who hit wildly over the post from an ideal position.
On the 44th minute, Balzan found the net through Negrin after he received a splendid pass from Calabretta, but the point was disallowed as the scorer was ruled offside.
Just before the interval whistle, Joseph Borg tried his luck from afar, but his effort was neutralised by Miguelez Martinez.
Floriana went closest to scoring on the 54th minute. Igor Coronado set Steve Pisani in the area. The latter anticipated goalie Martinez and his cross-shot passed across goal with Luca Casha just failing to connect in front of an empty net.
On the 71st minute, it was Steve Pisani who tested Martinez with a low shot, but the goalie saved without any trouble.
At the other end, Negrin made the most of a Floriana lapse in defence, but then saw his final effort blocked to a corner by Handford.
The final chances came Floriana’s way. First it was Brooke Farrugia who saw a good effort going wide and just before the end, it was goalie Martinez who denied substitute Pinheiro, saving his hard shot.