Aurelio winner lifts Saints' spirits

Msida St Joseph 1
Aurelio 55
Tarxien Rainbows 0

Msida St Joseph put their abject performance against Hibernians behind them yesterday after edging past Tarxien Rainbows in a league match at the National Stadium.

The Saints' victory owes much to the individual brilliance of Brazilian forward Marcos Aurelio. He netted a superb goal that handed his team their first three points of the season and, more importantly, lifts the spirits of a club that looked dejected after a 5-1 hammering in their first outing of the campaign the previous week.

Tarxien will feel disappointed to have left Ta' Qali without a point as they shared the exchanges for most of the match.

They need to show more sharpness up front though as the team is not reaping dividends for the positive football they are producing.

Tarxien coach Noel Coleiro gave Lino Galea his first start since his move from Birkirkara as the wing-back replaced Kevin Borg. Warren Chircop was preferred to Luke Vella Critien.

Msida counterpart Patrick Curmi also effected some changes to his starting XI with Kurt Magro starting ahead of Pedro Calcado while Stacey Vella replaced Kenneth Spiteri in defence.

The match was played at a very fast pace and it was Msida who created the first opportunity but Adrian Farrugia's shot was easily dealt with by Tarxien keeper Sean Cini. At the other end, Mariano Bueno headed just wide from a Mark Tanti free-kick.

On 16 minutes, Msida were awarded a free-kick which was taken by Adrian Farrugia. Tyrone Farrugia showed his skills in set-piece situations as he anticipated his marker but headed just wide.

On 23 minutes, Bueno threatened again for the Rainbows but his shot was deflected to a corner by the alert Tyrone Farrugia. Three minutes later, Matthew Camilleri, the Msida keeper, had to dive to his right to stop Andrew Decesare's free-kick.

A minute from the interval Msida shouted penalty when Magro was sent tumbling in the box by Ivan Karapic but referee Andre Arciola waved play on.

After the interval Msida tried to step up a gear and Aurelio came close with a fierce shot that flashed wide. The Brazilian forward, however, made no mistake on 55 minutes when he showed remarkable change of speed to outpace Pio Sciriha and Ramon Schembri before rounding Cini and deposit the ball inside an empty net.

The goal hit the Rainbows hard as they struggled to create any sort of reaction with Msida easily protecting their advantage.

Tarxien threatened on 76 minutes when Bueno outmuscled his way through but his grounder was stopped by Camilleri.

Thirteen minutes from time, the Rainbows thought they had equalised when from a Mark Tanti free-kick Omar Grech stabbed the ball home from close in. However, the 'goal' was disallowed for offside.

Grech had another golden opportunity in stoppage time but with only Camilleri to beat, he fired wide as Msida hung on for the win.

Msida St Joseph
M. Camilleri-6.5, S. Grima-6, A. Spiteri-7, S. Vella-6, T. Farrugia-6.5, D. Cachia-6, A. Da Silva-6.5, A. Farrugia-6, C. Camilleri-5.5 ('60 P. Calcado-6), K. Magro-6, M. Aurelio-7.5.

Tarxien Rainbows
S. Cini-6, A. Galea-5.5, M. Caruana-5.5 ('77 K. Borg), I. Karapic-6.5, P. Sciriha-5.5 ('55 L. Vella Critien-5), W. Chircop-5, M. Tanti-6.5, A. Decesare-6, R. Schembri-5.5, M. Bueno-6, R. Cariaga-6 ('68 O. Grech-6).

Referee: Andre Arciola.

Yellow cards: Schembri, Cariaga, Karapic, Decesare, Aurelio, T. Farrugia.

BoV Player of the match: Marcos Aurelio (Msida St Joseph).