Floriana threw the title race wide open yesterday when they took advantage of Ħamrun Spartans’ second consecutive half slip-up and overcame Gudja United. 

Suggestions that the Premier League race had become a procession for Ħarmun Spartans were completely dismissed yesterday as Floriana beat Gudja 5-1 to cut the gap with Ħamrun to just one point.

The Greens fell behind to an early Aidan Friggieri strike but hit back quickly through a quick-fire double by Luis Furtado and from then on they never looked back.  

As expected Floriana applied the early pressure, forcing a succession of early set pieces, with James Pisani, the Gudja goalkeeper, producing a smart save on Carlo Zammit Lonardelli after 19 minutes.

But as the Greens appeared to be gathering momentum, Gudja took a surprise lead when Friggieri scored an audacious goal from almost the halfway line after seeing Floriana goalkeeper Georgi Kitanov off his line.

Nevertheless, Floriana continued to put Gudja on the backfoot.

Mauro Camoranesi brought on Josè Arias instead of Alexandros Kouro with the Greens switching from a back three to back four, in a bid to strengthen the midfield against a team that was putting 10 men behind the ball.

The move paid dividends in 33 minutes as the score became level. Floriana were awarded a penalty when Kemar Reid was clipped from behind by Luca Gatt. Furtado stepped up to equalise.

Three minutes later, Reid fed Furtado on the right and his drilled shot from a tight angle gave Pisani no chance.

The Greens moved further ahead two minutes into the second half Furtado unpicked Gudja’s defence and released Reid who hit a low drive past Pisani.

Floriana skipper served up goal number four after 55 minutes with a header following another neat pass from Furtado.

Substitute Rovas ensured the win was an emphatic one with a well-taken goal on 70 minutes.

Referee: Ezekiel Barbara

Source: sportsdesk.com.mt