FLORIANA6

Caceres 20, 34

Fonesca 39

Venancio 45 pen

Paiber 73

Borg 75

MELITA            1

Attard 46

High flying Floriana cruised into the fourth round of the FA Trophy when ousting Second Division side Melita 6-1.

Despite the absence of their prolific Albanian striker Kristian Keqi, Floriana were superior to their young opponents, scoring four goals inside the first half to secure an easy passage and a significant morale-booster with tricky ties against Sta Lucia, Sliema and Birkirkara coming up in the new few weeks.

The difference between the two sides was so wide that Floriana coach Vincenzo Potenza opted to give reserve goalkeeper Justin Spiteri some competitive action as he replaced Ini Akpan between the goalposts as Keqi, Matia Garcia, Alex Cini and Ryan Camenzuli were relegated to the bench.

The Greens eased their nerves with a goal within the first 20 minutes.

Augusto Caceres caught the Melita rearguard napping to poke the ball behind the Melita goalkeeper Lawrence Cauchi.

This early Floriana goal set the tone for the rest of the match and Melita coach Saviour Debono Grech must have feared the worst when Floriana doubled their lead on 34 minutes. Jurgen Pisani chipped a delightful ball towards Caceres who headed the ball behind Cauchi.

Goalmouth action was condensed in Melita’s box with Cauchi enduring a busy afternoon.

But a mistake by the Melita custodian gifted the Greens a third goal after 39 minutes when he missed an easy ball to allow Tiago Fonesca score into an unguarded net.

On stroke of half-time, Floriana moved four goals clear when they won a penalty for a foul on Caceres. Diego Venancio duly converted from the spot.

After the interval, Melita made an effort to pep up their challenge as Jean Pierre Attard headed the ball into the net from a corner by Daniel Claridge.

But more anguish was in store for the Amateurs. Cauchi did well to block Bradley Sciberras’s grounder before Floriana added further gloss to their victory.

Brandon Paiber stretched their lead with a firm drive while Clyde Borg made it 6-1 with a delicate lob.

OTHER RESULT

RABAT AJAX    0

MOSTA             7

Muchardi 14; Brincat 27, 49, 80

Xuereb 43; Diouf 55, 75

 

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