Tarxien's promotion hopes were shattered yesterday when they were soundly beaten by Vittoriosa Stars. The result was a just reward for Vittoriosa who stormed back into the game after a rather slow start in which Tarxien took a deserved lead.

This win lifts Vittoriosa to a healthy position in the middle of the table, almost completely free from relegation worries. The inclusion of Ivan Zammit in the heart of the defence, was Massimo Cremona's winning trump card as the ex-international showed all his worth with his experience and class.

Other players who stood out for the Stars were Anywanna who scored a brace and Scerri who gave his heart out in all sectors of the field.

The Rainbows are passing through a lean patch collecting a mere point from their last three outings. Their defences lapses let them down in the first half, and were unabale to bounce back as Vittoriosa showed more determination in their play.

The match had a rather quite start with play mainly in midfield. However Tarxien were slightly better in the first minutes with Tabone showing his usual good skills.

Tabone went very close on 16 minutes when his curling freekick went inches wide. Four minutes later tarxien were awarded a penalty when Calleja handled the ball inside the area and from the spot kick Alan Tabone made no mistake.

However Tarxien's joy was shortlived as six minutes later Vittoriosa were back on level terms when Anywanna shot home from the edge of the area following a short clearance by the Rainbows' rearguard.

Vittoriosa kept up the pressure and took the lead on 29 minutes. Tarxien goalkeeper lost possession of the ball and Anywanna had the easiest of chances scoring from close range.

Tarxien rallied back in the final minutes of the first half but Vittoriosa withstood the pressure to finish the first half with a slender lead.

At the start of the second half Vittoriosa increased their lead when Trevor Thomas won a ball outside the area to beat Curmi with a good shot on the turn that finished in the top corner.

The Stars were now in full command with their defence never giving away an inch as Tarxien lost all their composure. The closest they could get was again through Alan Tabone who was extremely unlucky when his free-kick slammed against the upright on 70 minutes.

In the last minutes Scerri should have scored a wonder goal following an impressive run, beating a handful of defenders and even the Tarxien goalkeeper, but shot incredibly wide in front of an open goal. However the fourth goal was in the air as substitute Charles Cachia shot home from an acute angle in injury time.