Vittoriosa S. 1
Rabat A. 3
Rabat Ajax inflicted the first defeat of the season over favourites Vittoriosa Stars after a polished display of attacking football.
The Magpies surprised everyone present at The Victor Tedesco Stadium, including their opponents Vittoriosa who could never come to grips with their opponents fast and flowing football. Rabat were always in the driving seat, and never gave up not even when they suffered the Stars’ opener on 26 minutes.
The turning point came late in the first half when Rabat scored two goals in quick succession to send their rivals reeling.
Rabat never looked back added a third goal on the hour to grab three precious points and moved to second place in the table together with Zejtun Corinthains and the other surprise of the tournament Birzebbuga St Peters.
Rabat Ajax enjoyed the lions’ share of the proceedings in the first half, with Vittoriosa unable to organize themselves. The Rabat players were all over the place with their fast tempo, and this unsettled the Vittoriosa players who were rather slow and plucky in their approach.
Goal mouth actions were practically inexistent in the first 25 minutes even though Rabat were always on the attack. Vittoriosa tried to use Marcelo Pereira’s speed to upset the Rabat rearguard, but the ex-Hamrun Spartans player was isolated upfront.
However Vittoriosa won a dubious penalty in one of their rare breaks, when Marcelo Pereira was pushed from behind by Joe Cornforth, with referee Spiteri assigning the penalty.
From the spot Tassio Lopes Fereira made no mistake with a well taken shot. Rabat Ajax were not upset by this setback and increased their pressure in search of the equalizer. They were rewarded in the final minutes of the first half turning the tide in their favour with two quick goals in the space of sixty seconds.
On 40 minutes Adam Smeir gave a long ball towards Arlindo Rustemi who marked his debut with a well taken shot that gave Vella no chance to save. With Vittoriosa still baffled, Rabat scored a second goal. Ryan Micallef nipped in between two Vittoriosa defenders and from the edge of the area missiled past Vela with the ball hitting the crossbar before finishing at the back of the net.
In the second half Vittoriosa Stars took the initiative with Rabat retreating in their own half in protection of their slender and precious lead. Vittoriosa missed a golden opportunity on 57 minutes when Adam Spiteri failed miserably in front of goal following a Marcelo Pereira cross from the left.
Three minutes later Rabat Ajax scored a third goal when Ryan Micallef received a long ball from defence beat the lanky Vittoriosa defenders to score with a low shot.
On 70 minutes Vittoriosa had a good chance of crawling back in the game but substitute Mauro Grioli placed well over the bar an inviting cross from Pereira.
Vittoriosa S J.M.Vella, J. Camilleri, B. Bonnici, S. Tellus, J. Spiteri, T. Lopes Fereira, M. Pereira, L. Rocha Dos Santos (E. Azzopardi), A. Spiteri (R. Sell), J. Dalli, M. Buttigieg (M. Grioli).
Rabat A S. Mintoff, N. Caruana, C. Schembri, J. Cornforth, J. Caruana, A. Smeir, A. Rustemi (Y. Cauchi), C. Muscat, R. Micallef (W. Borg), D. Azzopardi (D. Falzon), C. Gauci.
Referee Sandro Spiteri