Watch: ‘Spartans’ mindset crucial in title triumph’ claims Zauri

That champions Ħamrun Spartans are still a force to be reckoned with in Maltese football was not the only truth conveyed from their 5-0 crushing of Floriana in the Premier League on Saturday.

They reaffirmed their status as the season’s dominant force as Floriana were cutely outclassed, the Spartans achieving their biggest win over their rivals in recent years.

But this comprehensive triumph was more than that.

Floriana arrived at the National Stadium hoping to overturn the odds after their president Johann Said branded this match as football’s equivalent of David vs Goliath.

In reality, the team that went on an enthralling head-to-head run with Ħamrun saw the yawning chasm opening out in front of them on a day of pain at the National Stadium.

Ħamrun mentor Luciano Zauri presented the perfect game plan when opting for stifling pressing in midfield followed by well-timed forays on the counter-attack.

“I’m very satisfied with how my team played. I am aware of our quality. It is hard to defend any title. My compliments go to the club for providing me with strong players who followed my instructions,” he explained.

“The deadlocks in tight games can be resolved with episodes but in this case, we decided to storm out of the starting blocks to surprise Floriana.

“All the persons in the Ħamrun team, including my backroom staff, played an important role in this victory. We studied Floriana well.

“However, the players’ attitude on the pitch was exceptional today. We could have played in a different tactical way and still, the result would have been the same, today.”

Seth Painstil had a day to remember after scoring four goals to join a pool of distinguished strikers to achieve that feat, including his front-line team-mate Luke Montebello (against Balzan 7-1).

The Ghanaian striker has finally woken up to his responsibilities, scoring five goals in the last two matches and turning provider against Gżira United in the only goal of the match.

“It is Painstil’s fault. I always wanted to play with my best strikers. Today, Uros Duranovic was missing but throughout the campaign, he scored a lot of goals. I tried to put my strikers in the best condition to score goals. But I want to congratulate Seth for scoring four today. This is not an everyday event,” the Italian mentor said.

On his part, Ryan Camenzuli, the Ħamrun wingback said the Spartans were well-prepared for their biggest match of the season and said the game was won in midfield.

“We prepared well for this match. We studied them well. Floriana are a very physical side with a relentless style. I had an arduous job trying to tame Willis Furtado. Everyone knows what a quality player he is and what he brings to Floriana’s game. I think that we managed to keep him quiet.

“Having said that, the midfield is where the game is likely to be won. We managed to win the second balls and turned the tables on Floriana.”

“In the end, we deserved to win the match. That early goal eased our nerves but we were determined to win the match,” he added.

Fall from grace

On Saturday, Floriana simply had no response to the Spartans’ play. Their detractors may have pointed to a sudden drop in their playing levels, resulting in an anticlimax following their enthralling head-to-head tussle with Ħamrun.

Surely, they will wish to wipe a harrowing 90 minutes from their memory as soon as possible. That fall from grace was too much unpalatable for Floriana to digest, after shipping in five goals when for much of the season they boasted the best defence in the championship.

Floriana coach Mauro Camonaresi insisted that this was just a bad day at the office.

“Throughout the year, we also spoke about the performance and not the result but it was a bad performance overall,” he said.

The Italo-Argentine coach admitted that Floriana had been a pale shadow of their usual self.

“A team who had the best defence in the league, conceding just 11 goals in 24 games cannot ship in five in one game,” he explained.

“I would say that we were not mentally ready to play this final.

“I thought that fielding a five-man defence, we would be able to stifle their attacking threat. But we conceded too many soft goals in a short period of time.

“The season is still not over for us. We have the FA Trophy. I think that mentally the team can overcome this setback as we all know that so far our season has been extraordinary,” Camonaresi concluded.