Watch: Floriana beat Mosta to go top

Floriana produced another clinical performance as they saw off Mosta by a solitary Jake Grech goal to secure their third successive win.

It was another professional performance from Daniel Portela’s team who managed to keep their opponents at arm’s length to bag their third successive victory and move one point clear at the top.

The Greens took some time to settle down in the match and in fact it was Mosta who came agonisingly close to taking the lead after four minutes when Giancarlo Goncalves raced across the penalty box and hit a thumping drive that came off the upright.

Floriana responded on 11 minutes, but Rui Areias’s header finished just over, with Akpan beaten.

As the minutes passed, the Greens were growing in stature, and they took the lead on 23 minutes.

Federico Varela fed the sprinting Jake Grech in space, and the attacking midfielder hit a low drive that gave no chance to the Mosta goalkeeper.

Scoring chances remained few and far between as Mosta were happy to administer their advantage.

The Greens had a chance to extend the lead in first-half stoppage time when Varela saw his curling drive finish just wide.

Mosta showed signs of improvement after the break, and they came close to an equaliser on 50 minutes but Cioletti was alert to keep out Prince Chibizor’s header.

But gradually Floriana regained control of the match, and just past the hour mark, Mustapha Jah raced clear, but his shot hit the side-netting.

Jah was proving a handful for Floriana and on 70 minutes he embarked on a surging run that took him beyond the Mosta defence but his shot was turned to a corner by Akpan.

Floriana had a golden opportunity to kill off their opponents on 74 minutes.

Jah again sped clear and was upended just as he entered the penalty box by Bolanos, with the referee immediately pointing to the spot, albeit TV replays showed the foul started outside the area.

From the resultant penalty, Jake Grech saw his shot brilliantly saved by Akpan.

But that little mattered as Floriana managed to safely administer their advantage to secure three important points that lifted them to the top of the standings.