TARXIEN RAINBOWS 1
Ciantar 45
STA LUCIA 3
Maxuell 29, 64 pen.
Henrique 90
Sta Lucia’s positive run of late continued yesterday as the newly-promoted club overcame bottom-placed Tarxien Rainbows at the Hibs Stadium.
It was a merited victory for Sta Lucia who held too much firepower for the Rainbows with their front trio of Kevin Ante Rosero, Maxuell, and Paolo Henrique causing all sorts of problems to the Rainbows defence.
For Sta Lucia this was their third win in a row which lifted them to ninth place in the standings on the 20-point mark, five clear of the drop zone while Tarxien remained bottom on seven points
Sta Lucia looked lively for much of the first half and on 11 minutes, Rosero came close when his low shot scraped past the upright.
The Colombian striker came even closer seven minutes laster when he connected to Leighton Grech’s cross but diving header came off the bar.
Sta Lucia’s breakthrough was only a matter of time and that duly arrived on 20 minutes. Paulo Henrique burst his way past Destine Mambouana and picked Maxuell who headed firmly into the roof of the net.
The Rainbows tried to force their way back into the match and on 35 minutes they thought they restored parity when from a corner action, Aleksa Andreijic delivery picked Matthew Tabone at the far post and the Tarxien skipper rose above his marker to head home. But Gibraltar referee Jason Barcelo annulled the ‘goal’ as he felt that the Rainbows player had committed a foul.
That turned out to be Tabone’s final contribution of the match as the Tarxien defender picked up a head injury and was replaced by Miguel Ciantar.
Sta Lucia remained on top and Leighton Grech had two excellent opportunities to increase his team’s tally as first he fired a firm drive from the edge of the area wide and then he pounced on a poor clearance by the Rainbows and with only Rudy Briffa to beat he shot tamely towards the goalkeeper.
The Saints were made to pay for these missed chances as with virtually the last kick of the half Tarxien Rainbows pulled level.
Thomas Veronese profited from a miscommunication between Jacob Walker and Kevin Correia to charge into the area and tee up Ciantar who beat Timothy Aquilina with a low drive.
Sta Lucia started the second half strongly and on 48 minutes Rosero burst through on the left and set up Correia who saw his shot blocked by a defender.
Tarxien finally threatened on the hour but Andreijic’s long-range shot flew just over.
Twenty minutes into the second half, Sta Lucia regained their lead when Daniel Zerafa blocked the ball with his arm following a Rosero shot and Maxuell cooly drilled the ball into the net.
Tarxien’s reaction never materialized as they looked short of ideas upfront and their quest was further hampered three minutes from time when Brandon Muscat picked up his second booking and was shown the red card.
Sta Lucia soon made the most of their numerical advantage as in stoppage time Paolo Henrique sped clear and drilled the ball past Briffa to seal Sta Lucia’s win.
Maxuell of Sta Lucia was named BOV Player of the match.