Impressive Sirens sink Floriana

FLORIANA 1

Agius 49

SIRENS 2

Zammit Lonardelli 35

Gavrila 69

FLORIANA

G. Kitanov-5, A. Magri Overend-4.5 (46 A. Garzia-4), C. Rutjens-5, O. El Hasni-5, Z. Cassar-5, A. Caseres-5 (46 K. Keqi-6), J. Arias-5 (72 E. Rebenja), A. Ciolacu-5, N. Garcia-5, B. Paiber-5.5 (46 D. Agius-6), R. Camenzuli-4 (72 B. Sciberras).

SIRENS

J. Debono-6, B. Gavrila-6 (82 D. Jackson), K. Reid-8, F. Brandan-7.5, D. Albanese-6, A. Borg-6, J. Walker-6, C. Zammit Lonardelli-6.5, A. Cini-6, F. Avoce-5 (90 A. Bianco), C. Riascos-7.

Referee: Stefan Pace.

Yellow cards: Walker, Arias, Borg, Ciolacu, Camenzuli, Rutjens, Zammit Lonardelli, El Hasni, Avoce.

BOV player of the match: Bogdan Gavrila (Sirens).

Sirens bounced back from their 6-1 drubbing to Balzan with an impressive 2-1 win over Floriana.

Winston Muscat’s side dominated proceedings as Floriana were below par for much of the game and only substitute Kristian Keqi showed some appetite for the task at hand.

Sirens climbed sixth and leapfrogged champions Ħamrun Spartans while Floriana, who prior to kick-off were sharing second place with Valletta, failed to close the gap with leaders Hibernians.

Kemar Reid set up the opener with a breathtaking technical piece of brilliance. The Jamaican striker’s movement and link-up play with Fernando Brandan proved irresistible.

Roaming on the right flank, Reid continually teased Ryan Camenzuli, before skipping away from him.

Floriana had a good chance to open the scoring early on, when Brandon Paiber hit the ball towards Oualid El Hasni who went close with a header.

Sirens were struggling to get a kick, though they eventually began to work their way back into the match, with Brandan and Reid starting to influence proceedings.

The Sirens midfield combined productively though with the Argentine providing the industry in the middle and the Jamaican bringing artistry to the flanks.

His direct running was giving Camenzuli a torrid time on the left while Brandan seeing plenty of the ball and rarely wasting possession.

On 24 minutes, Reid found space down his right and clipped in a fabulous cross for Bogdan Gavrila who somehow shot the ball high over the bar. That proved to be a dress rehearsal for Sirens opener.

In fact, it was from another Reid cross that Sirens deservedly took the on 35 minutes when his right-wing centre was completely missed by Gavrila but Carlo Zammit Lonardelli broke in from behind to hit a low drive behind Georgi Kitanov.

Floriana were struggling to make any headway and Gianluca Atzori made a triple substitution at half-time with Adam Magri Overend, Augusto Ceseres and Brandon Paiber replaced by Aleandro Garzia, Kristian Keqi and Daniel Agius.

The gamble paid dividends immediately when Keqi demonstrated all his touch and vision to cleverly backheel the ball through to Agius who fired home in one impressive movement.

Keqi, playing just behind Agius, was heavily involved in all Floriana moves in a spell of sustained pressure which saw the Albanian striker testing Jonathan Debono with a fierce shot.

But Floriana’s hard work was soon undone when on 69 minutes, Gavrila smashed Sirens back into the lead. Zammit

Lonardelli showed great composure to dink in a cross from the right and the Romanian striker fizzed a fine shot into the bottom corner.