Denni powers Rainbows

Tarxien Rainbows 2
Denni 32 pen.; Tanti 87
Qormi 0

Qormi and Tarxien are two teams that rely heavily on their Brazilian imports.

Camilo is Qormi's chief goal-getter and Ramon is a pillar in their defence. Tarxien's three foreigners are all Brazilians, namely Everton, a solid defender, Denni, their creative outlet, and striker Ribeiro.

This Brazilian quintet shared the same pitch yesterday as Qormi and Tarxien went head-to-head. Coming from a 1-0 upset to Valletta, Qormi were keen on getting back to winning ways to consolidate their lofty position while the Rainbows craved the three points to keep their top-six hopes alive.

It was Tarxien's South Americans who stole the show as Denni's attacking brilliance and Everton's prowess inspired the Rainbows to a 2-0 victory that strengthens their prospects of winning the tight race for the final two Championship Pool places.

Victory for the Blues was deserved as they played the more cohesive football besides displaying great resilience to weather Qormi's frantic attempts to level the score.

Suspension deprived Tarxien coach Noel Coleiro of two regulars, David Camilleri and Gianluca Calabretta. Justin Grioli made his first start for the Rainbows, taking up the right-back position.

Qormi's midfield resources were diluted by the absence of Massimo Grima and Keith Fenech, both suspended. Coach Jesmond Zerafa awarded a first-team recall to Ryan Deguara who was assigned a wide role on the right of midfield.

Zerafa stuck with 4-4-2, Alfred Effiong flanking Camilo up front.

For Tarxien, Ribeiro was the main attacking spearhead in a 4-4-1-1 formation in which Denni was given licence to probe for openings in the final third.

Goalmouth action proved elusive for much of the opening 20 minutes.

On 26 minutes, Denni tested waters with a long-range effort that Matthew Farrugia, the Qormi keeper, turned around his near post. Mark Tanti's corner was headed on by Ribeiro but Denni's attempt was foiled by Ramon. Tarxien screamed 'penalty' but referee Kevin Azzopardi was unimpressed.

Qormi were clearly struggling to gain some sort of fluency as the hard-working Tarxien refused to yield an inch.

A surging run by Deguara unlocked the Tarxien defence as the speedy winger accelerated into the box and ran past keeper Anthony Curmi but his pass from the byline was cut out by Steve Sadowski.

As the game moved past the half-hour mark, Denni's progression into the box unnerved the Qormi defence as he glided past Roderick Sammut and charged goalwards. Ramon tried to close down Denni but the latter's deft footwork prompted the Qormi defender to nudge him to the ground and concede a penalty.

Fittingly, Denni marched towards the spot and despatched a low shot into the left corner as Farrugia dived the other way.

Tarxien came close to a second goal eight minutes from half-time when Grioli swung in a teasing cross towards the far post and Ribeiro dashed past Farrugia but headed wide. Zerafa must have had a go at his players during half-time in light of their low-key showing in the opening 45 minutes.

The second half had only just kicked off when Camilo managed to get a good cross into the box but Ryan Mintoff slid in to push the ball away from Stefan Giglio.

Qormi raised the tempo. A long ball from midfield invited the speedy Effiong to run towards goal but Everton denied the Nigerian with a last-ditch clearance.

Another diagonal cross by Giglio caused panic in the Tarxien box as a host of defenders somehow failed to get a touch to the ball, leaving the way clear for Effiong but the latter's attempt was repelled by Curmi.

With Qormi now pouring forward en masse in search of an equaliser, Tarxien tried to punish their opponents on the break.

Effiong headed wide from Farrugia's free-kick and Bartolo's half-volley was charged down by Everton. Qormi found a gap in Tarxien's defence when Deguara guided a through-pass towards Giglio but the latter just failed to make contact.

With eight minutes left, Zerafa replaced Deguara with Kenneth Spiteri who went on to take up one of the centre-half roles as Stephen Wellman was repositioned as striker.

Everton thwarted Qormi again when blocking Camilo's point-blank drive after the latter had got on the end of a raking ball from Farrugia.

Camilo's corner was only partially cleared and Giglio nodded the ball towards Effiong but the latter's overhead kick flew over. Qormi demanded a penalty for a handling infringement but the referee waved play on.

Qormi's hopes of forcing a draw fizzled out when Tarxien doubled their lead with three minutes remaining. Denni was the provider with a fine pass from the left to Mark Tanti who drilled his shot past Farrugia.

Tarxien Rainbows
A. Curmi-7, S. Sadowski-5 ('68 K. Magro-6), M. Caruana-6, Everton-7.5, Ribeiro-6, M. Tanti-7 ('90 R. Grech), A. Decesare-6, Denni-8, R. Mintoff-7.5, L. Galea-6.5, J. Grioli-6.

Qormi
M. Farrugia-5.5, J. Bondin-5, S. Wellman-5, Ramon-5, R. Sammut-4, S. Giglio-4, J. Farrugia-6.5, M. Bartolo-4, R. Deguara-6 ('82 K. Spiteri), A. Effiong-4, Camilo-4.

Referee: Kevin Azzopardi.

Yellow cards: Sammut; Camilo; Decesare; Effiong; Giglio.

BOV player of the match: Denni (Tarxien Rainbows).