Darren Abdilla hailed his players’ character as league champions Valletta boosted their hopes of retaining the title for a third successive year when they edged past leaders Floriana 1-0 at the National Stadium on Sunday.
Heading into the match five points adrift of their eternal rivals, the Citizens had no other option but to win the derby to keep their chances alive.
Valletta are blessed with a group of players oozing great experience in negotiating title run-ins and on Sunday, it came as no surprise to see the likes of goalkeeper Henry Bonello, match winner Steve Borg, Ryan Camilleri, Enmy Pena Beltre and Rowen Muscat coming to the fore to lead their team-mates to a crucial win which pushed City just two points adrift of Floriana.
“This was a massive victory,” Abdilla told the Times of Malta.
“It was a do-or-die match for us. Failure to collect all three points from this derby would have probably spelt the end of our chances.
“We approached it as if it was a cup tie where you need to win to progress to the next round and we made sure to do all that it takes to return home with the three points in the bag.
“I only have praise for my players who deserve all the credit for this victory. During the week, my job was to prepare the side both physically and tactically but it was up to the players to deliver where it mattered most... the pitch.
“Once the match kicked off you could see in the eyes of my players the hunger and ambition to deliver the job and they showed just why they are the champions.”
Abdilla admits that while the win over Floriana was a shot in the arm for their title aspirations, there still remains a lot of work to be done to reach their primary target.
“Beating Floriana by no way means that we are going to win the title,” Abdilla said.
“We only did what was expected of us but there is still a long way to go. We need to keep in mind the fact that we are still not in charge of our fate. There are still ten matches to go and the only certainty that we have is that if we win our remaining ten matches we will be sure of finishing second.
“To finish top, Floriana must falter but that is not under our control. The only thing we can influence is our results. We need to win our remaining matches or else this derby victory would be useless.”
Asked what impressed him most of his team’s performance against Floriana, Abdilla singled out his team’s tactical discipline.
“Tactically this was by far our best performance of the season,” Abdilla said.
“We knew what we were doing right from the outset and although Floriana tried to change things throughout the match we always had the right answers and practically never let them to impose their game with our aggressive approach.”
During the January transfer window, Valletta have strengthened their squad with the arrivals of Triston Caruana, Miguel Alba, Jhony Cano Barrios and David Faupala.
Abdilla said that these additions have inevitably increased competition for places.
“I have no doubt that the arrival of four new players in the January transfer window has been a key factor to see the team step up their performances both in training and on the pitch,” the Valletta coach said.
“There is not one player in the squad now that is sure of his place in the team so everyone has to fight hard to keep his place in our starting formation and that is a blessing as it gets the best out of our squad.”
Throughout this season, Abdilla has faced some criticism after the team’s indifferent start to the season but the City mentor said that results on the pitch are showing a completely different picture.
“I was subjected to a lot of criticism this season but the facts are that this is turning out to be one of the best seasons for our club,” Abdilla said.
“Everyone is saying that Floriana are the best team, but when you look at the statistics they have lost two matches like us and the only difference between us is that we have one more draw than them.
“If we go on and win the title this will be our best season in the last ten years as we managed to reach the third qualifying round of the Europa League, won the Super Cup and we are still in the FA Trophy.
“Added to that we have included some young players in the team, such as Shaun Dimech who is a one of the very few home-grown talents to establish himself in the team.
“So there are many positives to look at and hopefully we can add to that from now until the end of the season.”