Floriana cruise past Żabbar St Patrick to clinch first victory in 360 Sports Malta Premier

ŻABBAR SP      0

FLORIANA       3

Vinicius 5og; Nwoko 16; Sasere 24

ŻABBAR SP

M. Grech, J. Micallef (46 R. Jovancic), F. Bonilha (78 L. Agius), B. Gambarte, S. Ilic (46 M. Azzopardi), Z. Grech, D. Tavares (46 D. Oliveira Souza), Vinicius (57 M. Ferreira), J. Pedro, D. Jovicic, M. Barros Santos.

FLORIANA

C. Mafoumbi, O. El Hasni, J. Grech (87 S. De Flavia), Thiaguinho, D. Vella, M. Garcia, C. Zammit Lonardelli (62 A. Garzia), K. Nwoko (63 K. Reid), F. Sasere, A. Kouro (63 G. Yameogo), Fernandinho.

Referee: Philip Farrugia.

Yellow cards Pedro, Ferreira, El Hasni.

Three goals inside the first 24 minutes did the deal for Floriana as they breezed past Żabbar St Patrick to record their first win in the 360 Sports Malta Premier.

It was a clinical performance from Darren Abdilla’s charges who punished Żabbar’s lax defending and secure a commanding victory that will come a long way to inject some much-needed self-belief in the Greens camp after back-to-back draws against Melita and Ħamrun Spartans.

Żabbar, on the other hand, had their moments. Still, their decision to play a defensive high line came back to haunt them as their opponents’ direct play continuously exposed them and end up suffering three goals that spelled the end of their hopes of picking up their first spoils of the season.

Floriana were up and running inside the first four minutes they were already ahead.

Fernandinho sent a cross inside the area and Żabbar defender Vinicius deflected the ball into his own net to hand Floriana the lead.

Żabbar came agonisingly close to an equaliser on 13 minutes when Brian Gambarte played in Diogo Joao who chipped the ball over the onrushing Christoffer Mafoumbi but Carlo Zammit Lonardelli was on hand to clear off the line.

Floriana made Żabbar pay for that miss as on 16 minutes the Greens doubled their lead.

Dunstan Vella capitalised on Żabbar’s high backline as he played Kyrian Nwoko clear and the Malta striker slid the ball past Matthew Grech.

Żabbar’s defensive frailties were again exposed on 24 minutes as Floriana added a third goal.

Franklin Sasere latched onto a long pass behind the defence and anticipated goalkeeper Grech to head the ball into an empty net.

With three goals to the good, Floriana opted to administer their advantage wit Żabbar struggling to create any danger to Mafoumbi’s goal.

The second half kept the same tempo and Floriana almost added a fourth on 64 minutes when Aleandro Garzia, who had just replaced Zammit Lonardelli, just failed to connect with Fernandinho’s cross in front of a gaping goal.

Fourteen minutes from time, Mafoumbi came to Floriana’s rescue when the Greens goalkeeper dived at full stretch to keep out Zachary Grech’s thumping drive.