Tarxien R. 2
Pieta H. 0
Tarxien R.: A. Cassar, JA Wemmer, Juan Gill (A. Agius 78), D. Zerafa, G. Aquilina, S. Arab (M. Spiteri 70), D. Mambouana, A. De Barros, M. Tabone, A. Nilsson (M. Paolucci 85), J. De Paixao
Pieta H.: N. Vella, T. Ose, N. Pace Cocks (J. Ghio 46), D. Agius, P. Chimezie, G. Mensah, C. Grech, U. Calistus ,I. Jalo (L. McKay 62), J. Scicluna (N. Pisani 31), A. Macedo
Referee: Philip Farrugia
Asst refs: Duncan Sultana, Duncan Spencer
4th official: Fyodor Zammit
Scorers: JA Wemmer 27, 68
Yellow cards: N. Pace Cocks 19, I. Jalo 62
Red card: M. Tabone 7
BoV Player of the Match: JA Wemmer
TMI Top 3: 1. JA Wemmer, 2. D. Agius, 3. D. Mambouance
German Jens Alex Wemmer was a 10-man Tarxien hero yesterday. He scored twice for the Rainbows to help them beat Pieta Hotspurs and at the same time moving them onto the 26 point mark and closer to avoid relegation.
Wemmer struck on 27 and 68 minutes as the Tarxien side almost made sure of their stay at least for another season in the Premier League.
Pieta failed to maintain last week's form which led them to a 3-1 win against St Andrews. However, despite the defeat, they still have remote hopes of being able to overtake St Andrews to obtain a place in the playoff to avoid relegation against the third placed in the First Division. But they have to win their two remaining matches while St Andrews lose all their three matches till the end of the campaign.
With coach Jose Borg suspended for this match, Tarxien were under the charge of assistant coach Saviour Debono Grech.
On their part, Pieta coach Ramon Zammit had to do without the services of promising youngster Jan Busuttil who was ruled out through suspension.
In the first half, Tarxien had to suffer a lot in midfield as they had Tabone dismissed after only 7 minutes.
However, they dealt with the situation quite well and were even good enough to take the lead with a splendid goal from Wemmer.
Pieta did most of the running, but they were far away from the form they showed last week when they beat St Andrews.
In fact, despite their obvious territorial superiority, they rarely troubled Tarxien goalie Andrea Cassar as their finishing was very poor.
Tarxien received a big setback in the 7th minute when Matthew Tabone was deemed to have floored Mensah on the edge of the area as the last man. Mr Philip Farrugia showed him the red card, leaving his side to fight on in 10 men.
Paul Chimezie's freekick was deviated to corner by a Tarxien defender and from the cornerkick, a good header by Takaki Ose was well saved by the diving Andrea Cassar.
On 19 minutes, from a Neil Pace Cocks cornerkick, Chimezie hit the ball well over the bar from an ideal scoring position.
Tarxien's first shot at goal arrived on 27 minutes - a De Barros effort saved comfortably by Vella. But a minute later, the same goalie could do nothing to stop a humdinger from Jens Alex Wemmer who hit home a fine shot from around 20 metres to put the Rainbows ahead.
Early in the second half, most of the attention turned onto the Pieta bench where player James Scicluna, who was injured and replaced by Nicholas Pisani in the first half, was taken to hospital in an ambulance.
On 57 minutes, Pieta went close to an equaliser through a Dylan Agius fine effort which went just wide of the Tarxien goalpost.
On the hour, Tarxien missed a good chance to double theeeir lead when Siraj Arab elected to Pass the ball (badly) to Alexander Nilsson, instead of shooting at goal himself and the ball went wide.
On 66 minutes, Wemmer bustled his way into the Pieta area, but his low drive was saved by Vella.
The same Wemmer became a Tarxien hero on 68 minutes when he again managed to beat goalie Vella with a fine header off a De Paixao cross.
Pieta's reply was feeble, but in the 88th minute, Dylan Agius saw his angled effort being tipped to corner by goalie Cassar.
Before the end, it was substitute Paolucci who missed another chance to Tarxien as he saw his effort blocked by Vella.