BIRKIRKARA 0
FLORIANA 1
Keqi 30
Kristian Keqi handed Floriana a perfect start to their Premier League campaign as the Albanian netted the all-important goal that helped his team edge past Birkirkara at the National Stadium.
It was a hard-fought victory for the Greens who after holding the edge for much of the first half they had to withstand Birkirkara’s second-half fightback.
In fact, the Stripes will feel unlucky not to have taken something from the match, especially when one considers that they hit the woodwork three times. But in football, it’s who scores more goals that prevails and the Greens held on to their slim lead to kickstart their campaign in the best possible way.
Birkirkara coach John Buttigieg resisted the temptation to hand a full debut to his marquees striking tandem of Federico Falcone and Luis Edison ‘Tarabai’ as the former started on the bench while the latter failed to make the squad. The Stripes handed a debut to defenders Jefferson, Isaac Ntow and Enrico Pepe, midfielders Yannick Yankam and Roderick Briffa and forwards Henrique Caio and Miguel Alba.
Floriana too paraded their new signings, namely Diego Venancio, Matias Garcia, Augusto Caseres and Ryan Camenzuli.
Floriana started brightly and on 10 minutes Kristian Keqi’s deflected shot finished just wide.
The Stripes responded a minute later when Isaac Ntow powered past two defenders before feeding Miguel Alba whose thumping drive came off the upright.
The match remained lively and 19 minutes Andrew Hogg showed great reflexes to push over Venancio’s deflected effort from a free-kick.
The Malta goalkeeper again had to be alert seven minutes later to keep out Ulises Arias’s cross-shot.
On 28 minutes, Hogg again distinguished himself with a fine one-handed save to keep out Jurgen Pisani’s fierce drive.
But from the ensuing corner-kick the former Hibs goalkeeper was left helpless as Keqi connected to Venancio’s delivery to head the ball into the far corner of the net.
The Stripes looked stunned and it was only four minutes from the break when they produced a sort of reaction when Maurizio Vella picked Yankam on the edge of the area but the young midfielder fired over.
They had an even better chance just before the break when Vella picked Caio who headed just wide.
On the restart, the Stripes roped in Falcone for Caio as they looked to get back into the match.
On 52 minutes, Montebello tried his luck from the distance but his effort finished just over.
Just past the hour mark, Birkirkara were unlucky not to draw level. Vella’s sent a dipping cross towards Falcone and the towering striker saw his header cleared off the line by Enzo Ruiz.
The ball fell to Briffa whose fierce drive was pushed away by Akpan with the aid of the upright.
After that early spurt, scoring chances declined with the Stripes struggling to create open chances while Floriana were focused to preserve their lead.
The woodwork denied the Stripes a third time on 75 minutes when Falcone’s cross-shot skimmed the bar with Akpan beaten as Floriana somewhat held on for the win.
Floriana's Kristian Keqi, scorer of the all-important goal, was named BOV Player of the Match.