BoV Premier League highlights

Day Four of the 2008/09 BOV Premier League was characterised by the battling displays of newcomers Tarxien Rainbows and Qormi as well as Msida St Joseph's convincing performance which saw them annihilating Floriana.

Also, Ħamrun Spartans, so ambitious in pre-season, suffered a third successive defeat after a 4-1 upset to leaders Hibernians. The Reds are now languishing at the wrong end of the standings.

Until last Sunday, Floriana had yet to concede a goal but they came a cropper when facing Msida who scored four times and also missed a penalty midway through the first half.

Tarxien, perhaps, chalked up the most remarkable result of the whole weekend when holding Valletta to a two-all draw.

Dyson Falzon scored an early goal for the champions but any thoughts of a goal spree were dispelled as the Rainbows hit back admirably to take a 2-1 lead before the break with goals from Daniel Mariano Bueno.

Goalkeeper Anthony Curmi played a blinder for Tarxien and he was only beaten by a 75th-minute Njongo Priso penalty for Valletta to avoid an embarrassing defeat.

Qormi played at a par with Birkirkara for most of the match on Saturday. However, a Michael Galea goal downed the brave Qormi team who had a golden opportunity to equalise in the second half but a Joseph Farrugia penalty was stopped by goalkeeper Omar Borg.

While Sliema Wanderers figured in a second consecutive goalless draw, this time against Marsa-xlokk, Floriana started favourites to beat Msida but the latter had other plans in mind.

Brazilian duo Pedro Calcado and Marcos Aurelio ran the show for Msida, the former scoring a hat-trick. The Msida-Floriana referee, Kevin Azzopardi, awarded three penalties but only one was converted, that by Mauro Brincat who scored a late consolation goal for Floriana.

In all, the five weekend matches produced six penalties.

Meanwhile, the Spartans will be making a soul-searching exercise this week as the team is now in danger of falling off track so early in the season.

Against Hibs, Ħamrun started brightly but lost composure after two unfortunate own goals put the Paolites 2-1 up. Youngsters Leighton Grech and Jean Paul Farrugia completed the formalities for Mark Miller's team, the surprise package of the season.

Premier League statistics

Scorers, red cards

Birkirkara: Galea 2, Mallia 2; Tabone (pen), Mifsud Triganza.

Floriana: Madzar, Brincat (penalty). Red card: Bugeja (vs Ħamrun).

Ħamrun: Spiteri 2; Ortega (penalty). Red card: Spiteri (vs Floriana).

Hibernians: Scerri 4; Galabov 2; Failla 2; Caruana, Grech, Farrugia. Own goals: Micallef (vs Ħamrun); Bonnici (vs Ħamrun); Red card: Mbongo (vs Valletta).

Marsaxlokk: Alcorse, Licari (penalty), Said, Pereira, Mattocks.

Msida: Calcado 4 (1 pen.); Aurelio 2.

Qormi: Da Silva 2, Effiong 2; Farrugia. Red card: Chetcuti (vs Hibernians).

Sliema: Woods 2 (1 pen.); Bajada. Red card: Bjodev (vs Ħamrun).

Tarxien: Bueno 2; Chircop. Red cards: Carapic, Decesare (vs Qormi).

Valletta: Priso 3 (2 pens.); Tolomeotti, G. Agius, Falzon.

Next features (all National Stadium)

Friday: 7.30 p.m. Birkirkara vs Valletta.

Saturday: 4 p.m. Msida SJ vs Qormi; 6 p.m. Hibernians vs Sliema Wanderers.

Sunday: 4 p.m. Floriana vs Marsaxlokk; 6 p.m. Tarxien vs Ħamrun Spartans.