Rabat A 1   Tarxien R  3

Tarxien Rainbows compounded Rabat’s gloom after beating them convincingly to lift themselves  closer to a top-six finish as the first round draws to a close. It was far from an accomplished performance by the in-form Tarxien side but this victory was what their sense ofd belief, resilience and good defending merited at the end.

Rabat, oddly static and slack,  again showed frailties in defence, lack of inventive in midfield and were toothless in attack. They need reinforcements fast if they are to avoid the drop.

That made it easy for Tarxien to register their second consecutive win, their third in their last four outings to confirm their present vein of good form.

Ominously for their opponents, Tarxien were buoyed by a positive run of three unbeaten games and the return from suspension of four important players Justin Grioli, Manuel Caruana, Daniel Bueno and Andre  Esposito, although their central defender Evaldo was suspended and Mamo not included in the squad.

Rabat retained the same starting line-up that drew against Valletta the previous week but suffered an early setback when their not fully fit Lithuanian striker Astrauskas had to be substituted.

Two minutes later, the Magpies fell behind, not for the first time this season, from a dead ball situation. Steve Bonnici  headed in via the underside of the bar Esposito’s corner from the left as the Rabat rearguard looked completely in disarray.

But equilibrium was restored only  five minutes later when Rabat scored in a rather fortuitous manner, courtesy of the Tarxien’s keeper gaffe.

Vella allowed the ball to trickle from underneath his body, on  a harmless low drive from  substitute Wayne  Borg, as he stooped low to block.

But, to their credit, the Rainbows were not demorilised and demonstrated their technical superiority with their two Brazilians Meira and Esposito combining well to telling effect to enable their side recover and take the lead before the half was over.

Esposito and Bajada both failed to find the target from promising positions before Tarxien scored again, three minutes short of the half hour, from another set piece. Esposito took the corner from the left but the Rabat keeper Mintoff fumbled the high ball which fell invitingly to Danilo Meira to shoot in, again failing to celebrate.

Rabat were unlucky when hit by further injuries to Clive Brincat, eight minutes before halftime, and Yan Cauchi past the hour thus forced to make all three substitutions.

But that does not take away any merit from Tarxien’s deserved win as they completely dominated the second half. After Esposito’s long range free kick was turned into a corner by the Rabat keeper, Tarxien scored their third and assuring goal on the hour, with Meira deeply involved. He played the ball to Daniel Bueno, to advance on the left and beat the onrushing keeper Mintoff with a low flick from a tight angle.