Valletta 1

Tarxien 0

(after extra time)

Tarxien R: D. Cassar, G. Calabretta, R. Costa, C. Rodriguez, S. Pacheco (J. Grioli), D. Bueno, L. Vella Critien, J. Vella (S. Sadowski), O. Anonam (A. Farrugia), R. Mintoff, L. Galea

Valletta: A. Hogg, R. Briffa, J. Caruana, S. Borg, I. Azzopardi, E. Agius, J. Pace, D. Dos Santos, O. Temile (T. Scerri), R. Fenech (K. Sammut), A. Anderson (I. Zammit)

Referee: K. Azzopardi

Asst.refs: I. Spiteri, T. Debono

4th official: C. Pisani

Scorers: D. Dos Santos 116

Yellow cards: L. Vella Critien, G. Calabretta, R. Mintoff, E. Agius, S. Borg, T. Scerri

Red card: R. Mintoff

Attendance: 2,079

Champions Valletta reached the final of the U*BET FA Trophy, and kept on course for a season’s double, but they can thank Denni Dos Santos for them not having disappeared off the radar completely yesterday.

Barely four minutes of extra time remained when the Brazilian secured a hardly deserved final spot with a stunning finish against his former club Tarxien Rainbows.

The Rainbows had stretched their opponents into extra time after a barren first 90 minutes and were very close to a penalty shoot out before Dennis broke their hearts.

Tarxien, who had a tough time eliminating Vittoriosa Stars in the quarter finals, were aware that this tie was to be even more complicated, more so because of the absence of Everton Pereira in defence due to suspension. Orosco Anonam played as centre back instead and Gianluca Calabretta was preferred to Sadowski as left back. Still, they showed resilience in defence and also had their moments, although few and far between. Suffice to say they were twice denied by the woodwork in the final minutes of normal time, although during the match, the post saved them on two other occasions when Valletta looked likely to score.

Valletta also made some changes from the side which played against the same opponents the previous week. Gilbert Agius had not yet recovered from the hamstring injury while Terence Scerri and Kevin Sammut were relegated to the bench. Fenech, Temile and Anderson were given starts instead.

Both sets of defences remained composed, with Bueno for Tarxien, and Denni Dos Santos for Valletta being the main threats in a sterile first half during which scoring opportunities remained much at a premium.

Valletta looked slightly more dangerous in the first half hour and went close on two occasions. Fenech hit Borg’s long cross first time with his left foot slightly over. Then, on Temile’s through pass, Denni went past Anonam with a darting run inside the area but shot against the foot of the post.

After that, Tarxien enjoyed the better share of possession and were the better side for the rest of the half. On Vella’s sailing free kick, Anonam headed in keeper Hogg’s safe hands and on 34 minutes Costa shot wide as Rodriguez rolled the ball in his path.

Despite Borg’s challenge, Rodriguez still managed to put his head to Pacheco’s cross but failed to put the ball on target.

Valletta failed to up the tempo, although Denni had his low shot going narrowly wide just before the break.

Soon after the restart, Fenech went through on the right flicked the ball past the keeper but the leather providentially hit the retreating Galea and was deflected into a corner.

Tarxien were still much in the game and on 67 minutes Bueno headed the ball inside the Valletta area but Rodriguez failed to connect in front of goal.

On 72 minutes, Valletta finally effected the much expected change, putting in their best striker Terence Scerri for Temile and the champions started to mount some sustained pressure.

Pace ballooned the ball over on Briffa’s cross and then Anderson’s grounder was blocked by keeper Cassar. On 76 minutes Denni headed Scerri’s cross wide and three minutes later, Scerri persisted inside the area, after playing a deft one-two with Fenech, but his shot rebounded off the foot of the post.

In the dying minutes of normal time, Tarxien were also denied twice in quick succession by the woodwork. On a Pacheco free kick from the left, Bueno’s powerful header took a deflection by the Valletta defenders and hit the bar with keeper Hogg completely out of sorts.

Then again Beuno’s drilling shot from 25 metres out thumped against the top corner of the bar. Bueno’s effort deserved a better fate.

Extra time was mostly played inside Tarxien’s half but Vallletta still lacked the slightest hint of penetration with tame efforts from Scerri and Pace.

Ten minutes into the first half, Tarxien’s clearance on substitute Sammut’s cross fell to Agius, whose powerful shot was well blocked by keeper Cassar.

Tarxien’s intentions were to stretch their opponents to a penalty shootout as they put in Justin Grioli and Steve Sadowski in the second half.

But Valletta scored the all important goal with only four minutes remaining. Substitute Zammit played the ball forward for Denni Dos Santos to cut through the middle, put the entire Tarxien defence off balance with some superlative footwork before finishing off past the helpless keeper Cassar to send the Valletta supporters in raptures of joy and his team into the final.

In added time, Ryan Mintoff was sent off for a retaliation on the grounded Agius as tempers flared towards the end.