Sunday 12th March 2017: Balzan retained the top place of the Premier League standings, one point ahead of Hibernians and four ahead of Valletta, when they eased past Floriana 2 – 0 at the National Stadium.
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Balzan made some changes from their last match against Pembroke, goalkeeper Christian Cassar was replaced with Ivan Janjusevic, while Samir Arab, Alfred Effiong and the suspended Clive Brincat where replaced with Bruno Giglio de Oliveira, Ryan Fenech and Dylan Grima. On the other hand Floriana had four changes from the team which was held by St. Andrews last week as Antonio Monticelli, Andre Scicluna, Ryan Camenzuli and the suspended Steve Pisani where replaced with Enrico Pepe, Clyde Borg, Alex Cini and Mario Fontanella.
As from the beginning of the game Balzan were all over their opponents right and managed to wrap up the issue by the end of the first half.
Balzan had the first opportunity to goal on the 4th minute when a scissor shot by Bruno Gilio De Oliveira was blocked by goalkeeper Matthew Grech and from the rebound Bojan Kaljevic, from a good position, shot wide.
Balzan took the lead on the 11th minute. Matteo Piciollo was fouled by Enrico Pepe deep into the left flank and from the resulting free-kick taken by Ryan Fenech, ELKIN SERRANO VALERO headed past goalkeeper Matthew Grech from close range.
Balzan insisted and hand on the 17th minute they had another opportunity when a powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area by Matteo Piciollo was saved well by Matthew Grech.
Two minutes later Floriana answered back. Goalkeeper Ivan Janjusevic was forced to make a good save to corner over an effort from close range by Mario Fantanella.
On the half hour, Floriana went close again to equalize. Ignacio Varela served Mario Fontanella inside the penalty area and the latter saw his shot finishing slightly off target.
Despite this, Balzan increased their advantage on the 33rd minute. Alan Da Silva Souza passed the ball towards unmarked Anderson De Barros who hit a low diagonal shot that gave Matthew Grech no chance to save.
In the second half Balzan opted to administer their advantage as Floriana were short of ideas and did not look capable of taking over.
On the 76th minute Floriana created a chance on goal as Mario Fontanella delivered a cross towards Nicolas Chiesa whose effort ended up wide.
Balzan had a good opportunity five minutes later when Bojan Kaljevic fired a powerful drive that was parried to a corner by Matthew Grech.
The last opportunity came to Bojan Kaljevic when from an ideal position he missed the target by few inches.