The main match on Friday evening was the Old Firm derby between Sliema Wanderers and Floriana. Both teams were aiming to obtain their first win. In their first outing, which incidentally was the first match of the League 2021/22 Sliema had to bow their heads to Balzan conceding a goal deep into stoppage time after sharing the exchanges for long stretches.
On the other hand Floriana figured out a 2-2 draw against Santa Lucia and thus earned a point from their first match.
It ended in a goaless draw with the Greens holding the upper hand for long stretches but Sliema never threw in the towel to gain their first point of the campaign. For Floriana this was the second consecutive draw .
Both teams were active during the past week with the Greens welcoming within their ranks Mattia Veselji, Neil Micallef and Mark Fenech with the Wanderers confirming that Danny Holla will stay with the club for another season.
The first half missing chances on both ends and it was only on 14 minutes that the first action materialized. It was Floriana who ventured forward when off a cross from the right side the ball fell into Ryan Camenzuli’s path but his shot from inside the box sailed over the bar.
On the half hour it was Floriana and Camenzuli once again but his shot from just outside the area ended over. The Greens had the best chance of the half five minutes from the break when an Adam Magri Overend cross from the left flank set Daniel Agius but the latter from beneath the goal fired high with only Aquilina to beat.
In the 57th minutes Sliema went near for the first time through Myles Beerman who made his way past a number of defenders only for his final shot to end in Kitanov’s hands.
Five minutes later Floriana responded when Jan Busuttil but his diagonal shot just missed the target. And on 69 minutes it was Busuttil once more who this time had shot turned into a corner by goalkeeper Aquilina who had a good match between the posts.
And three minutes from the end Sliema tried to break the deadlock but Carlos Flores shot ended well over the bar.
Photos Domenic Aquilina
