Ribeiro fires Tarxien through

Mosta 1
Micallef 6
Tarxien Rainbows 5
Ribeiro 8, 70, 78; Calabretta 11, 75

Ten-man Tarxien Rainbows came back from a goal down to cruise into the second round of the FA Trophy with a crushing victory over Mosta yesterday.

It was a spirited performance from the Rainbows. Despite falling a goal down after only six minutes and having Andrew Decesare dismissed midway through the first half, Tarxien still had too much firepower for their Division One opponents to ease to a comfortable victory.

Mosta will feel hard done by the final scoreline, but they were too sloppy in defence and got severely punished by a Rainbows side that had Brazilian striker Anderson Ribeiro, scorer of a hat-trick, and Gianluca Calabretta in fine form.

In the opening stages, Mosta showed no signs of nervousness and after three minutes, Tarxien keeper Anthony Curmi was alert to tip over Julian Vella's shot.

That was a sign of what was to come as Mosta forged ahead soon after. Vella's pinpointed cross found Lyden Micallef at the far post and his header flew into the bottom corner of the net.

Tarxien hit back strongly to draw level two minutes later. Steve Sadowski's inswinger found Ribeiro who prodded home from close in.

That goal took the steam out of Mosta and on 11 minutes the Rainbows struck again.

Calabretta did well to beat Mosta's offside trap before reaching Decesare's pass and firing past onrushing keeper Jonathan Debono.

More action followed as four minutes later Micallef was first to Mark Briggs's free-kick but he flicked the ball against Tarxien's upright.

Tarxien suffered a blow on 28 minutes when Decesare was shown a straight red card after a spat with Terrence Vella.

However, Ribeiro should have made the game safe eight minutes later but he incredibly miscued the ball from close in after some fine work from Calabretta. Then, the Brazilian was unlucky to see his volley hit the bar.

Mosta emerged with fresh hopes after the interval and inside the first minute, Vella almost drew the teams level but his header hit the post with Curmi beaten.

Despite their numerical handicap, Tarxien still held sway and regained control in midfield.

On 59 minutes Denni threatened but his fierce drive was pushed away by Debono.

The Rainbows did wrap up the tie 20 minutes from time when, from a quick break, Denni put Ribeiro through and the latter beat Debono with a powerful drive.

Mosta were dead and buried now and Calabretta piled further misery on the Blues when on 75 minutes, he sped through from the right before hitting low past Debono.

Ribeiro left an indelible mark on the match 12 minutes from time when he turned past three defenders before scoring his team's fifth goal for a resounding victory.

Mosta
J. Debono, A. Borg, K. Farrugia, B. Agius, N. Koo-Boothe, M. Briggs, J. Vella ('77 L. Stivala), M. Farrugia ('74 P. Vassallo), L. Micallef, T. Vella, C. Pace ('74 L. Galea).

Tarxien Rainbows
A. Curmi, S. Sadowski, D. Camilleri ('71 L. Vella Critien), S. Vella, G. Calabretta, E. Pereira, A. Ribeiro ('81 W. Chircop), M. Tanti, A. Decesare, Denni ('70 R. Grech), K. Magro.

Referee: Marco Borg.

Yellow cards: Magro; Borg.

Red card: Decesare (T) 28.