St Andrew’s 0

Rabat A 1

Rabat Ajax registered a double over St Andrews, again beating them with an identical 1-0 scoreline. It was a very hard earned win for Rabat against a determined St Andrew’s side that could have easily and deservedly snatched a point from this game.

But Rabat’s captain Adam Smeir scored the decisive goal 15 minutes from time to give Rabat a valuable victory. The Saints had Ribeiro sent off four minutes after suffering the goal, and this made it more difficult for them to save the match.

Rabat were the better team in the first half but the Saints were surely more aggressive in the second period.

St Andrews had a very good scoring opportunity on the first minute with Alhinho missing in front of goal. However this was practically the Saints’ best and only chance of the first half.

Rabat held the upper hand for long stretches even though they were not very productive in front of goal. Their best chances came on seven minutes when Ryan Micallef passed towards David Azzopardi who fired low but goalkeeper Balzan punched away the dangerous shot.

On 23 minutes a good Rabat move ended with Christian Muscat passing towards Ryan Micallef whose dipper went inches wide. Adam Smeir had two attempts from the edge of the area but his shots went well over the bar.

In the opening minutes of the first half the Saints had a quick move with Alhinho passing towards William Camilleri who shot just over the bar. Rabat had a Joe Cornforth header off target.

On 68 minutes Nicky Vella Petroni dribbled past a couple of defenders but his effort was deflected and missed the target. On 75 minutes Rabat broke the deadlock when Clifford Gauci passed towards Adam Smeir who beat the offside trap and all alone in front of Balzan made no mistake firing in the roof of the net.

Four minutes later there was another blow for St Andrews who were reduced to 10 players when Gustavo Ribeiro was sent off for hindering Rabat goalkeeper from kicking the ball. Rabat almost immediately took advantage of this with David Azzopardi’s shot going wide.

The Saints’ last desperate attacks failed to worry Rabat goalkeeper Mintoff as the Magpies held on to their slender lead to go on top of the table.

St. Andrew’s: D. Balzan, R. Previ, B. Said, N. Chetcuti, B. Diacono, F. Alkanua, W. Camilleri (M. Calleja), A. Amato (M. Grima), N. Vella Petroni, G. Ribeiro, V. Alhinho (A. Nakua)

Rabat A: S. Mintoff, C. Schembri, J. Cornforth, J. Caruana, A. Smeir, C. Muscat, V. Caushi (W. Borg), R. Micallef (J. Felice), S. Gauci, D. Azzopardi, C. Gauci.

Referee: Chris Lautier