GUDJA UNITED              3

Winchester 1; Zerafa 76 og.; Jimenez 90

TARXIEN RAINBOWS   2

Andreijic 26, 52

Gudja United came back from the death as the newly-promoted side came back from a goal down and a man to break Tarxien’s hearts with an injury-time winner from Miguel Jimenez in a five-goal thriller.

It was a stunning outcome to a match which saw the Rainbows looked set to break their duck in this season’s Premier League when taking a 2-1 lead and having a player more on the pitch following the second-half dismissal of Miguel Attard.

But for the umpteenth time, Tarxien shot to their foot with some serious defensive mistakes which saw them concede two goals in the last 14 matches of the match to suffer their tenth successive defeat and remain bottom of the standings.

On the other hand, Gudja celebrated their second successive win that lifts them out of the relegation as they have now amassed ten points.

Gudja were off to a blistering start as inside the first minute they were already ahead. Tarxien kicked off the match with the ball being played back to Daniel Zerafa.

The Rainbows defender was dispossessed by Rundell Winchester who stormed into the area and slid the ball past Rudy Briffa.

Tarxien tried to respond a minute later but Aleksa Andreijic’s shot was pushed away by Jonathan Debono.

The Rainbows were dangerous from set-pieces and on 24 minutes Manuel Murillo’s free-kick was pushed away by Debono.

From the ensuing corner, Andreijic’s inswinger completely surprised Debono with the ball finishing into the back of the net.

Gudja looked rattled and they tried to reassert their dominance and nine minutes from the break Gabriel Mensah hit a thumping drive that flew over.

In the second half, the Rainbows started to play with more belief and their efforts were rewarded with a second goal on 52 minutes when Andrejic made space for himself on the edge of the area and his effort was deflected past Debono.

Gudja’s hopes suffered a hammer blow on 64 minutes when Miguel Attard was shown a second yellow card after upending an opponent on the edge of the area and was dismissed.

Despite being a man down, Gudja continue to push forward and on 65 minutes Anderson hit a scorching drive from the edge of the area that flashed just wide.

Twenty minutes from time, Mansueto tried to infuse some much needed flair to his forward line when he withdrew Aidan Friggieri and roped in James Brincat.

Andreijic should have put the game beyond Gudja’s reach 17 minutes form time when he was put clear by Stiv Shaba but the Serbian was denied by the onrushing Debono.

The Rainbows paid dearly for this miss as two minutes later Gudja were level. Santana delivered a cross inside the area and Zerafa, in an attempt to anticipate Winchester, headed the ball past his own goalkeeper.

Aleksa Andrejic of Tarxien Rainbows was named BOV Player of the match. 

Standings provided by Sofascore LiveScore

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