Abdilla not ready to take chances as Floriana face Tre Penne in return leg

Floriana coach Darren Abdilla is not ready to take any chances when they face San Marino side Tre Penne in the UEFA Conference League second qualifying round, second leg on Thursday night at Serravalle (kick-off: 8.45pm).

The Greens head into Thursday’s second leg firmly in the driving seat after coming from a goal down to over come Tre Penne 3-1 in the opening leg at the Tony Bezzina Stadium last week.

However, Abdilla is not ready to take any risk and is expecting his players to take the ground running in today’s match and seal the tie as early as possible.

“Our objective is to complete a double of victories over Tre Penne,” Abdilla told the Times of Malta.

“We may have a healthy first-leg advantage but that doesn’t mean there is anything assured.

“We mustn’t underestimate our opponents as they will be playing at home and if we approach the match with the wrong mentality we could be in for a nasty surprise.

“I believe that the quality of our squad is superior but we need to show it on the pitch.”

Abdilla said that he was particularly pleased with the character shown by his players in the first leg, where Floriana reacted to finding themselves behind early in the second half by scoring three quick-fire goals in the space of eight second-half minutes to put themselves in the driving seat ahead of the second leg.

“I was delighted with the response of the players when we found ourselves behind,” Abdilla said.

“They understood that they needed to transform all their possession into goals, and we could have easily scored more than three goals. Remember that it was our first competitive match of the season and the team needed to settle down.

“But we managed to come out of that difficult situation thanks to the great character shown by the players.”

Asked whether he planned to rotate the squad for today’s match, Abdilla was clearly adamant.

“I have a full squad of players available,” he said.

“But as I said I am not ready to take any unnecessary risks. Since the start of pre-season we have worked hard specifically for these two matches and we are just desperate to finish the job.

“In tomorrow’s match, there is no room for experiments. We are just going out to kill off the tie as early as possible and only then maybe I will decide whether I can give playing time to other players in the squad.”