Lively Saints topple Greens

Floriana 2
Msida St Joseph 3

Msida St Joseph extended their unbeaten run to four matches yesterday with a 3-2 victory over Floriana at the Victor Tedesco Stadium.

Thanks to this success, Patrick Curmi's team have trimmed the gap on seventh-placed Hamrun Spartans to just five points whereas the Greens still require three points to secure their place in the Championship Pool.

A barren first half was in stark contrast with an action-filled second period during which a total of five goals were scored, four of which came in a frantic 15-minute spell.

This sudden goal flurry left both sets of fans on tenterhooks till the final whistle as man-of-the-match Priso Doding struck Msida's winner in the last quarter.

Floriana may claim that they enjoyed more possession but their lack of punch up front led to their downfall. Missing the services of Yala Bolasie, suspended, Floriana were still expected to gain maximum spoils and stay in touch with leading duo Valletta and Marsaxlokk. This unexpected slip means that the Greens have fallen further off the title pace and now risk becoming embroiled in a fight to defend their top-six position.

Ryan Darmanin threatened to put Floriana ahead as early as the fifth minute. The lanky striker nipped behind the Saints defence but Msida goalkeeper Manuel Bartolo dived at Darmanin's feet and robbed him of the ball.

Keeping up the pressure, the Greens created another scoring chance after 10 minutes. Manolito Micallef headed the ball down towards the unmarked Darmanin whose close-range attempt narrowly missed the target.

Nine minutes later, Msida managed to break forward on the counter. Roderick Baldacchino did well to sprint down the left flank but his delightful chip was cleared away by the alert Simon Agius.

Msida mounted another swift breakaway nine minutes from half-time as Adrian Farrugia launched a long ball towards Pedro Dos Santos Calcado, aka Pedrinho, who beat the offside trap but his run was blocked by the surging Agius.

On the stroke of half time, Msida could have opened the scoring as Doding ran the length of the pitch with amazing speed before drifting into the penalty area from the right. The Cameroon striker put the ball beyond Agius but his hasty attempt finished wide.

With Msida now enjoying the upperhand, it was no surprise that they maintained the pressure in the four minutes of first-half stoppage time.

Pedrinho controlled the ball on the edge of the penalty area but his weak shot failed to trouble Agius.

Floriana coach Danilo Doncic made one change at half-time, Mark Gauci replacing Owen Bugeja. This substitution prompted a positional switch as Micallef was re-deployed on the right of defence with Gauci taking up a midfield role.

A minute after the restart, Floriana forged ahead. Christian Cassar's lofted cross sailed into the box and Darmanin rose well to direct the ball into the net.

The Greens squandered their winning position after 10 minutes, the time it took Msida to level matters.

A neat one-two move between Baldacchino and Tyrone Farrugia enabled the latter to run into the penalty area and drill a low shot past Agius.

Three minutes later, Floriana suffered another setback as the Saints stormed into the lead through Adrian Farrugia whose shot took a deflection off Clifton Ciantar and rolled past a stunned Agius in the Floriana goal.

It was now the Greens' turn to chase the result and they proved up to the challenge, scoring an equaliser within four minutes of Msida's second goal.

Darmanin had another point-blank shot pushed away for a corner by Bartolo but from the ensuing flag-kick, taken by Mauro Brincat, Zoran Levnaic punished Msida's static defence with a strong header.

As Floriana surged forward in search of a winning goal, it was the Saints who edged ahead on 79 minutes. And they did so with a gem of a goal from Doding who left a number of Floriana players in his wake as he sped down the left flank, swept past Julian Briffa and fired an unstoppable shot past Agius.

At the other end, Bartolo, Msida's goalkeeper, pulled off a brilliant save to prevent Darmanin from levelling the score once more.

With five minutes of added time to play, Floriana failed to stretch the Msida defence as the Saints held on for another victory which surely improves their prospects of avoiding the drop this season.

Floriana: S. Agius-6.5, O. Bugeja-5 ('46 M. Gauci-5), J. Briffa-6, D. Krsteski-6, C. Ciantar-6, Z. Levnaic-6.5, C. Cassar-7, M. Brincat-6.5 ('77 C. Caruana), T. Cilia-7, M. Micallef-7, R. Darmanin-7.5.

Msida: M. Bartolo-8, P. Sciriha-6, S. Grima-6, K. Spiteri-6.5, C. Brincat-6.5, D. Cachia-6.5, T. Farrugia-7.5, A. Farrugia-7 ('90 L. Mizzi), R. Baldacchino-6.5 ('81 P. Borg), N. P. Doding-8, P. Dos Santos Calcado-6.5 ('67 G. Dos Santos-5.5).

Referee: Joe Attard.

Scorers: Darmanin 46; T. Farrugia 55; A. Farrugia 58; Levnaic 62; Doding 79.

Yellow cards: T. Farrugia; Krsteski; Darmanin; Ciantar; Bartolo; Briffa; Borg.

BoV Player of the match: Priso Doding (Msida St Joseph).