Floriana survive early scare to see off Hotspurs in FA Trophy

VICTORIA HOTSPURS  1

Apap 2

FLORIANA        4

Fernandinho 13; Mashike 53

Sotomayor 69; De Flavia 89

VICTORIA HOTSPURS

A. Parnis, F. Apap, L. Grima, D. Bogdanovic, E. Mbong (58 M. Buttigieg), S. Attard, D. Farrugia, R. Monteiro (73 M. Said), D. Mercieca, Wellington, K. Borg (87 E. Xiberras).

FLORIANA

Y.A. Fillion, O. El Hasni, E. Mashike, G. Sotomayor, J. Becerra (84 G. Rodgers), O. Spiteri, M. Garcia, G. Gamarra (87 T. Vella), A. Garzia (46 C. Zammit Lonardelli), G. Yameogo (87 C. Buttigieg), Fernandinho (76 A. De Flavia).

Referee Daniel Portelli.

Yellow cards Apap, Attard, El Hasni, Borg.

Floriana recovered from an early scare to progress into the quarter-finals of the Meridian FA Trophy with a comfortable victory over Victoria Hotspurs.

While the final result might suggest that the Greens had a field day against the Gozitan side but in reality, Darren Abdilla’s side had to battle hard to overcome the challenge of the resilient Hotspurs who were still in the match in the opening hour.

However, Floriana’s superior quality upfront made all the difference as they managed to kill off the tie with two late goals.

It looked as though Floriana were set for a tough night when the Hotspurs took the lead after only two minutes.

From a corner action, veteran defender Ferdinando Apap latched onto a cross to head the ball firmly past Floriana goalkeeper Yann-Alexandre Fillion.

But the Greens refused to panic and in the seventh minute debutant Gabriel Sotomayor teed up Fernandinho but the Brazilian failed to control the ball with only goalkeeper Andre Parnis to beat.

The Brazilian made up for this miss on 14 minutes when he profited from bad communication among the Hotspurs defenders to latch onto Aleandro Garzia’s pass and fire the ball into the net.

Floriana were now in full throttle and on 18 minutes Parnis was at his back to keep out Fernandinho’s shot after he was again set up by Garzia.

Sotomayor had the chance to put his name on the scoresheet on his debut on 23 minutes when he beat the offside trap but only managed to direct his lob just wide.

On 26 minutes, the Gozitans had a golden chance to restore their lead when the excellent Kurt Borg was clean through and rounded Fillion but his shot was cleared off the line by Guy Yameogo.

In stoppage time, Floriana had another huge chance to take the lead when Fernandinho rounded Parnis but his shot was deflected by a defender to give the Hotspurs goalkeeper the chance to recover and pick up the ball before it crossed the goalline.

Floriana looked a trasformed side after the break and they took the lead on 52 minutes.

Elvis Mashike found space inside the area and hit a firm shot that gave no chance to Parnis for his first goal in a Floriana shirt.

The Greens were now firmly in control and they all but killed off the match on 69 minutes when Sotomayor picked up the ball inside the area and beat Parnis with a low drive.

The Hotspurs looked down and out, and Floriana wrapped up their qualification with a fourth goal on 82 minutes.

Young Antiago De Flavia hit a firm low drive that rolled into the net for his first senior goal for the Greens.