A five-star peformance by Floriana goalkeeper Ini Etim Akpan kept Zejtun Corinthians at bay as the two teams shared the spoils in a goalless draw at the National Stadium.
A draw which puts the Greens alone in tenth place on 17 points, one ahead of Zejtun who now share the eleventh place with Sirens and Balzan.
Floriana, now under the guidance of coach John Buttigieg, therefore halted a negative run of three consecutive defeats. Zejtun, on the other hand, collect another point in the battle against relegation.
A Kemar Reid freekick was saved in two attempts by Akpan on the 10th minute and then Reid had a close range effort blocked by Akpan and off the rebound, a Vitor Vieira effort was cleared off the goal line by Moustapha Beye on the 22nd. Akpan blocked in style a powerful shot by Vieira on the 29th.
Thirteen minutes in the second half, Vieira had a freekick turned into a corner by the Floriana custodian and from the resulting freekick a fine Christian Grech effort was followed by a great save by Akpan.
In the final stages, Floriana had a powerful drive by Diego Venancio ending just over the bar on 85 minutes.
FLORIANA Ini Etim Akpan, Moustapha Muhamadou Beye, Enzo Ruiz, Diego Venancio, Kristian Keqi, Brandon Paiber, Matias Garcia, Alex Cini, Marcelo Dias (89′ Siraj Arab Eddin), Jan Busuttil (76′ Ryan Camenzuli), Tiago Adan Fonseca.
Subs not used: Andrea Cassar, Rhone Mifsud Grech, Mattias Formosa, Kurt Theuma, Aleandro Garzia.
Coach: John ButtigiegZEJTUN Christian Cassar, Lucas Moreira, Kemar Reid, Thiago Bonfim, Christian Grech, Sergio Barboza da Silva Junior (86′ Jurgen Suda), Vitor Vieira, Douglas Washington Cataneo (90′ Adrian Carabott), Edward Herrera, Neil Tabone, Anderson de Barros.
Subs not used: Daniel Grima, Alessio Cassar, Keelan Azzopardi, Gianluca Bugeja, Gillmore Azzopardi.
Coach: Orosco AnonamReferee: Darryl Agius
Assistant Referees: Paul Apap, Thomas Debono
Fourth Official: Daniel Portelli
Yellow Cards: N. Tabone, D. Venancio, A. De Barros
BOV Player of the Match: Ini Etim Akpan