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Floriana, Hibs out to stay in touch with pace-setters

Published: 12-01-2018 11:05
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Floriana and Hibernians will be looking to stay in touch with the BOV Premier League front-runners on Sunday when they meet in this weekend’s top match at the National Stadium.  Only four points stand between Floriana and Hibernians who are fourth and fifth respectively in the standings. The two sides have already met twice this season. They shared the spoils in their first-round encounter but Floriana edged Hibernians 1-0 in the BOV Super Cup thanks to Mario Fontanella’s goal. Hibernians are under pressure to get their title defence back on track after a poor run of results. They suffered defeats against Balzan and St Andrews, and drew 0-0 against Ħamrun Spartans last week. Clayton Failla and Johann Bezzina return for Hibernians after both served a one-match ban. Coach Mark Miller may also include new signing, Georgian midfielder Gorgi Gorozia, in his squad for Sunday’s match. Floriana have had mixed results lately. They bounced back from their defeat to Birkirkara before the Christmas break with a 2-0 win over Tarxien Rainbows last weekend. Coach Nicolas Chiesa welcomes back Enzo Ruiz who missed the last match due to suspension but Dylan Grima is out after receiving a one-match ban. Birkirkara will be going all out to maintain their momentum but will not have an easy task against the much-improved Mosta. Under coach Paul Zammit, Birkirkara have shown significant improvement, putting together a winning run that lifted them out of the bottom half of the standings.  They outclassed Gżira United 4-0 in their last encounter. Zammit cannot bank on the services of suspended duo Ryan Scicluna and Luke Montebello but Cain Attard and Nikola Vukanac return from suspension.  Mosta are also sitting comfortably in mid-table on 18 points. Their morale is high after beating Lija 5-1 in their last match. Coach Johann Scicluna is boosted by the return of Thomas Veronese. OTHER MATCHESIn other games, Ħamrun Spartans meet St Andrews. The latter welcome back Kemmu Degran Jackson and Innocent Tano Azian while the Spartans will be without Souza da Silveira and captain Tristan Caruana, both suspended. Senglea Athletic will be involved in a direct clash with bottom team Lija who have captain Daniel Scerri available after suspension kept him out of the defeat to Mosta. Lija coach Joe Grech has lost defender Ousmane Sidibe following his red card in the Mosta defeat.Senglea will be without Argentine playmaker Ivan Paz but Randal Vella returns from suspension. Gżira United will be bidding to make amends for their low-key showing against Birkirkara when they meet Tarxien Rainbows. Roderick Briffa and Amadou Samb return for the Maroons but Zachary Scerri and Emannuel Okoye are unavailable due to suspension. The Maroons have bolstered their midfield with the acquisition of Edison Bilbao Zarate. Tarxien have Sean Cipriott and Ebiabowei Baker on the suspension list but welcome back Luke Grech. Leaders Balzan take on Sliema Wanderers who have Mark Scerri and Ricardo Correa Duarte ruled out by suspension. Valletta meet Naxxar Lions on Saturday. The Citizens kept the pace at the top with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Senglea Athletic last weekend while Naxxar held Sliema to a 1-1 draw. Angus Buhagiar is out fo the Lions but Elhadji Ousseyou Ndaye returns from suspension.Left-back Joseph Zerafa is suspended for Valletta who are second in the table, one point adrift of Balzan.