Floriana registered their second successive victory defeating Birkirkara with second half goals. The battle between Italian tacticians Giovanni Tedesco and Camoranesi was surely won by the latter with the Greens emerging worthy winners.

Birkirkara were slightly better in the early stages but the Greens grew in composure in the last part of the first half. On the resumption the Greens took a deserved lead and Birkirkara never recovered with the Greens sealing the issue with a penalty seven minutes from time.

The first half was very enter‐ taining with Birkirkara enjoying the lion’s share of exchanges but with Floriana havin the better scoring opportuities.

Adailton had a couple of ef‐ forts at the start of the game with his shots well blocked by the Floriana custodian. On the other end Nwoko had a good run and a grounder that was saved by Birkirkara’s goal‐ keeper.

Adailton missed the best chance for the Stripes in the first half when he beat the offside trap but failed to score with an open goal at his mercy. On the half hour Maxwell Maia’s free‐kick missed the target and sixty seconds later at the other end Zapytowski made a great save off a Kemar Reid close range header.

Floriana had their best chances in the last moments of the first half with Zapytowski making two great saves off Veselji and Valadzko.

On 51 minutes Floriana broke the deadlock with a very good goal with the action starting from Kemar Reid with the same player finishing in style after a pass from the right by Valadzko and a flick from Veslji.

Birkirkara coach Tedesco made four substitutions at one go but things did not improve much for the Stripes who were still under shock after suffering Reid’s goal. Birkirkara had a good chance on 81 minutes with Yankam’s header saved by Ki‐ tanov.

Two minutes later Floriana won a penalty on a fast break with substitute Nogureira floored by Pajovic. From the penalty spot Arias made no mis‐ take with a precise grounder.

Photo: Domenic Aquilina