Two goals in the first half handed Floriana the three points as they beat newly-promoted Pieta’ Hotspurs 2-0 at the Tony Bezzina Stadium on Saturday.

Floriana had Lorenzo Trillo making his league debut along with substitutes James Scicluna and Carlo Zammit Lonardelli after they had already turned out for the Greens in the UEFA Europa Conference League while Eden Heshkovich made his very first appearance after being included as a substitute.

The Hotspurs had no less than eight new players in the starting line-up, namely Dele Alampasu, Ito Yasukaze, Terence Agius, Alan Schembri Wismayer, Ganiu Ogungbe, Sekou Camara, Ange Belibi and Takuma Yamaguchi while another new signing, Gabriel Xuereb, was included as a substitute by new Pieta’ coach Rodney Bugeja.

Floriana took the lead on the 11th minute when Jan Busuttil sent Mattia Veselji through and the latter advanced upfield before hitting low past Alampasu from the edge of the area.

The Greens doubled the score on the 26th minute when they were awarded a penalty after Lorenzo Trillo was brought down inside the area by Schembri Wismayer and from the penalty spot, Oualid El Hasni made no mistake.

Ten minutes from time, substitute Andrei Ciolacu could have added another but was unlucky to hit the crossbar with a header.

>> Floriana vs Pieta’ Hotspurs match card