BIRKIRKARA 3
Ntow 41, Falcone 52, Caio 64pen.
TARXIEN RAINBOWS
Birkirkara
A.Hogg-6, E.Pepe-6, M. Guillaumier-6, L. Tarabai-6 (86 P. M’bong), M. Vella-6.5, K. Zammit-6, R. Briffa-6, F. Falcone-6.5, H. Caio-6 (73 Y.Yankam), M. Carniello-6 (86 G. Bugeja), I. Ntow-7.5
Tarxien Rainbows
R.Briffa-5.5, M. Botta-5, T. Veronese-4, D. Mabouana-4, G. Camilleri-5, A. Andrejic-4, S. Shaba-5 (46 M. Ciantar-4), M. Stanojevic-5, P. Kanzurov-4 (82 N. Portelli), D. Zerafa-5, B. Muscat-4 (56 A. Azzopardi-4).
Referee: Alex Johnson.
Yellow card: Shaka, Stanojevic, Mambouana, Botta, Zerafa.
BOV player of the match: Isaac Ntow (Birkirkara).
Birkirkara splashed their way to a 3-0 win over Tarxien Rainbows, defying a pitch made almost unplayable by a torrential downpour.
Isaac Ntow gave the Stripes a half-time lead before their South American frontline made of Federico Falcone and Henrique Caio Prado put the result beyond their opponents' reach.
It was a morale-boosting win for Birkirkara who showed tremendous character and adapted impressively to a pitch where the ball repeatedly got stuck in pools of water.
Ntow should have opened the scoring for Birkirkara inside the first four minutes when he found himself unmarked in the Tarxien area, but his shot was saved into corner by Rudy Briffa.
On the other side, Stiv Shaba should have done better after 15 minutes when he found himself unmarked in a good position following a cross by Daniel Zerafa,only to head wide.
Soon after a torrential rain swept across the Centenary Stadium drenching the players for the rest of the match.
The slippery surface and difficult conditions did not help matters as Birkirkara tried to surge into an early lead and they nearly did through Roderick Briffa who tried his luck with a dipping shot that finished on the side-netting.
Five minutes from half-time, Tarxien could only watch in frustration when a cavalry charge by Ntow put the Stripes ahead. His run and execution with a low drve had the player running in delight towards his collegues on the wet surface.
It gave Birkirkara an instant stranglehold on the game. The Rainbows' woeful defence had already demostrated frayed nerves before Federico Falcone was left totally to meet Maurizio Vella's cross to head home from the inside the box.
On 64 minutes, Destin Mambouana was penalised for leading with his elbow in an aerial challenge on Tarabai. From the penalty spot, Henrique Caio Prado sent Briffa the wrong way.
Birkirkara again went near through Vella who forced Briffa to save from close range.
It was Tarabai's turn to bring the best out of the Tarxiens' goalkeeper.Those saves didn't matter much for them as long as the points were in the bag.