Tarxien Rainbows 4
Bruno 64; Azzopardi 70; Alves 76; Montebello 81;
Naxxar Lions 0
Tarxien Rainbows scored four second-half goals to see off ten-man Naxxar Lions yesterday.
Although the scoreline might suggest that Tarxien had a field day, things were completely different as for much of the opening hour the Rainbows struggled for openings.
However, the match turned on its head on 63 minutes when Naxxar defender Jose Pereira was dismissed, somewhat harshly, for a second bookable offence.
From then on, the Rainbows came to the fore and, inspired by Alex Alves, they punished their opponents to ease to a comfortable victory.
Adrian Buttigieg was in charge of the Naxxar team in the absence of coach Clive Mizzi who was serving a one-match touchline ban.
Tarxien could have taken the lead early on when Alves moved past two defenders and slid the ball into the path of Luke Montebello who saw his low shot pushed away by Luke Pecorella.
Pecorella was again alert on 24 minutes to block Anderson’s angled drive.
Naxxar threatened when Blazo Rajovic nodded the ball into the path of Demba Toure but his shot was deflected just wide.
The best chance of the half came Naxxar’s way on 38 minutes. They were awarded a free-kick and Toure’s inswinger forced goalkeeper Andrea Cassar to dive full stretch to palm the ball away.
Toure protested heavily as he deemed that Cassar had touched the ball beyond the goal-line but the referee was unmoved.
Eight minutes into the second half Ayrton Azzopardi sped clear of his marker but his shot was dealt with by Pecorella.
Naxxar suffered a blow on 63 minutes when Pereira was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Alves and was subsequently dismissed.
From the free-kick, Bruno met Azzopardi’s delivery with ball slipping past Pecorella and into the net.
Tarxien doubled their lead on 70 minutes when Alves whizzed past two defenders before leaving the ball to Azzopardi who hit a fine curling drive that flew into the top corner of the net.
The Lions almost pulled a goal back three minutes later but Rajovic’s dipping header flashed wide.
But it was the Rainbows who struck again when in a swift break Montebello served Alves who had little difficulty in stabbing the ball home.
And Tarxien completed the rout nine minutes from time – Lucky Omerou fed Montebello who beat Pecorella with a grounder.
Tarxien Rainbows
A. Cassar-6, Bruno-6.5, T. Caruana-6, B. Muscat-6, A. Azzopardi-6.5, C. Hevia-5.5 (74 R. Bajada), L. Montebello-6, D. Zerafa-6, A. Alves-7.5, J. Pedro-5 (57 T. Tabone Desira-6), Anderson-6 (46 L. Omeruo).
Naxxar Lions
L. Pecorella-6, B. Rajovic-5, A. Scicluna-6, L. Lodetti-5, R. Cardozo-6, T. Sarina-5 (87 Y. Sammut), D. Toure-6, J. Pereira, J. Debono-5 (61 D. Bonnici-5), D. Fenech-6, Mandinho-5.
Referee: Malcolm Spiteri.
Yellow cards: Hevia, Pereira, Cardozo, Toure, Bruno, Scicluna.
Red card: Pereira (NL) 63.
BOV player of the match: Alex Alves (Tarxien Rainbows).