Qormi and Floriana gave life to an absorbing encounter which saw them share them four goals in a nail-biting 2-2 draw.

It was Floriana who drew first blood on 25 minutes when Gary Muir’s throughball was not dealt it by the Qormi defence and Roland Emeka quickly sped inside the area, turned past Matthew Farrugia before depositing the ball into an empty net.

In time added on, Qormi were awarded a penalty when Alfred Effiong was upended in the area by Floriana goalkeeper Daniel Hanford and from the resultant penalty Lucas Cantoro blasted the ball into the net.The second half was off to a controversial start.

On the hour, Christian Caruana dashed into the area and went down after a challenge from Gianola.

Referee Sandro Spiteri pointed to the spot and showed Gianola his second yellow card of the day and dismissed him.The decision enraged the Qormi officials, especially club president Redino Apap who was dismissed from his team’s bench.

When play resumed, Muir drilled the ball past Farrugia to put Floriana ahead. Spiteri was again at the centre of controversy three minutes later when the official penalised Edet for what looked like a clean tackle on Cantoro in the area to award a third penalty in the match.

Edet was also shown his second booking and was shown the red card.When play resumed, Effiong stepped up for the kick and sent Hanford the wrong way to make it 2-2.

Qormi striker Lucas Cantoro was voted as the BOV Player of the match.