Clinical Tabone wins it for Tarxien

Mosta 1
Tarxien Rainbows 2

Striker Alan Tabone yesterday capped an excellent season when scoring the winning goal which landed Tarxien Rainbows the Division One Knock-Out trophy after a 2-1 win over Mosta in the final.

For the Rainbows, yesterday's success helped to soften their disappointment at missing out on promotion to the Premier League.

The final, played in front of sizeable crowd at the Hibs Ground, was a lively affair with both teams striving to play attacking football despite the hot conditions.

Mosta should have taken the lead inside the opening five minutes when, in a swift break, Anthony Ewurum served Ryan Deguara. The latter opted to shoot instead of passing the ball to Carlos Camenzuli in front of a gaping goal and his effort finished wide.

Tarxien's response arrived on nine minutes. Tabone's free-kick fell into the path of Ryan Darmanin who blasted the ball over from close distance. At the other end, Deguara's long-range shot finished wide.

On 15 minutes, Mosta's Ewurum fired a shot over the crossbar following a melee just outside the Tarxien area. The exchanges remained balanced with neither side managing to produce a spell of sustained pressure. On 24 minutes, Tabone had a free-kick sailing over.

The best scoring opportunity of the first half came Tarxien's way in the 35th minute. Simon Shead robbed Steve Borg of the ball, entered the area and served Darmanin. The young forward hit a half-volley from just inside the area but the ball came off the crossbar before being cleared away by the Mosta defence.

Just as it seemed that the first half was going to end goalless, Daniel Theuma gave Mosta the lead with a gem of a goal on the stroke of half-time.

Collecting a loose ball following a defensive clearance, the former Malta international whipped in a rasping drive that gave Tarxien goalkeeper Sean Cini no chance.

Jesmond Zerafa's team equalised within a minute of Mosta's opener. Maczerob Okoro played a good one-two with Shead who dribbled his way past Mark Brincat and, with his instep, pushed the ball past the onrushing Joshua Galea.

The tempo of the game dropped after the change of ends. Ewurum's drive from outside the area was blocked by Tarxien goalkeeper Cini.

Twenty minutes from time, Tarxien went close when an Okoro shot was blocked by a defender and from the rebound, Darmanin's point-blank shot was stopped by the Mosta custodian.

Into the last 10 minutes of the game, Mosta goalkeeper Galea came to his side's rescue when he turned Darmanin's rising shot away for a corner.

The Rainbows struck what proved to be the winner seven minutes from the end. John Schembri's surging run was followed up by the intelligent Tabone who beat Galea with a fine grounder from outside the box.

Mosta threw everyone forward in search of an equaliser and three minutes from time, they were unlucky not to draw level when Manuel Caruana stood in the way of Ives Bilocca's drive with Cini beaten.

Mosta ended the game on the attack but Tarxien's rearguard defended well to preserve their lead and secure victory.

After the end of the match, Ludovico Micallef, vice-president of the Malta FA and, an official from sponsors EuroSport, presented the KO trophy to Manuel Caruana, the Tarxien Rainbows captain.

Mosta: J. Galea, M. Abela (B. Gauci) J. Borg, (P. Camilleri), S. Borg (I. Bilocca), M. Brincat, C. Camenzuli, R. Deguara, A. Ewurum, M. Farrugia, C. Sciberras, D. Theuma.

Tarxien: S. Cini, S. Sadowski, M. Caruana, M. Micallef, J. Francica, S. Farrugia (G. Cutajar), S. Shead (J. Schembri), A. Tabone, P. Camilleri, M. Okoro, R. Darmanin.

Referee: Marco Borg.

Man of the match: Alan Tabone (Tarxien).