Linfield 0-1 Floriana
Shayne Lavery regrets what might have been.
Floriana celebrates her purpose at Windsor Park.
In a week, Linfield held one of the club’s most prominent European performances, The Boys of David Healy filmed one of his most dissexed shows last night, ending their europa League adventure.
It had been 50 years since the Blues, led by the inimitable Billy Bingham, knocked out the mighty Manchester City in a Cup Winners’ Cup draw: the English giants respected the away order rule.
The Maltese floriana aspect might not have had star names in the form of Francis Lee, Mick Summerbee and Colin Bell, but they were still too hot to deal with the timing of the qualifying round.
Matthias forward, Nicolás García scored a purpose in the first half that shook the Blues to the ground; they couldn’t do much after that.
His night of anguish worsened when defender Ross Larkin eliminated referee David Alexander Munroe, taking the rhythm of his first European game, 16 minutes after winning a yellow card for a moment.
The Maltese will now have the merit of the house against Flora Tallinn of Estonia on 24 September after achieving her third victory in 30 European play-off matches.
There would probably be 45,000 enthusiasts crowded in the foreign sand in 1970, but there was no sinner in the luxurious sand . . . no crowd, no atmosphere and, apart from the barking orders of the respective canoes, no noise.
It was stuff and something else Covid-19 was still flying for.
Visitors smashed the script in the 9th minute when they were given the lead.
Tiago Adan Fenseca dropped the ball in the bathroom of her batting buddy, who let her fly from 20 yards and her flush shot completely deceived Chris Johns in Linfield’s goal.
The Blues reacted quickly to Niall Quinn throwing himself into a right corner when Shayne Lavery couldn’t get a revealing touch.
Jimmy Callacher can then sabotage a shot in the side net after Quinn’s loose kick saw the big defender on the back post.
But the visitors gained confidence and Brandon Paiber tried his luck with a speculative, intelligent piece of Fenseca.
And, a few minutes later, Ryan Camenzuli took off from the left before throwing a low workout in the face of the setting as Fonseca moved away from the house.
Predictable and lacking in ideas, Les Bleus suffered against one who had earned the Maltese name for the first time in 27 years.
They had to wait until the last minute of the first half to control goalkeeper Ini Etim Atkpan, who controlled to fend off a scathing navid Nesseri consultation after a header through the middle through patron Jamie Mulgrew.
And the Blues lost the chance to aim a few seconds later when defenseman Ethan Boyle took the lead after an exact corner shot from Quinn.
After eating Healy’s half-time kick, the Blues roared traps with Lavery forcing Atkpan to make a weak stop within seconds of the reboot.
Two minutes later, Lavery disordered back that led to Stephen Fallon’s shot at Atkpan, but through Bastien Hery, who shamefully scored an open goal.
Healy lost patience with his failed troops and decided to introduce attacking couple Andy Waterworth and Christy Manzinga.
But Linfield’s hopes of saving the game came under a hammer blow 16 minutes from the moment Larkin ejected after receiving a yellow card for a moment.
The wonderful defender cannot complain after knocking down Ulysses’ replacement, José Arias.
Linfield had an overdue penalty when Lavery arrived in the area after a challenge from Jurgen Pisani, but referee Munroe was not impressed.
Then, with the seconds elapsed, Atkpan made a miraculous stop against Callacher, who looked like a six-metre safe scorer.
LINFIELD: Johns, Larkin, Callacher, Lavery, Nasseri (Manzinga 62), Clarke (Waterworth 62), Fallon, Hery (Kearns 78), Mulgrew, Boyle, Quinn.
Unused submarines: Moore, Stafford, McClean, Pepper,
FLORIANA: Atkpan, Ruiz, Venancio, Leone, Keqi (Cheveresan 84), Paiber (Arias 61, Beye 84), Pisani, García, Díaz, Camenzuli, Fonseca.
Unused submarines: Cassar, Cini, Busuttil, Agius.
ARBITRATOR: David Alexanders Munro (Scotland).
MORE TO COME