Ribeiro keeps Tarxien in top-six race

Tarxien Rainbows 3
Decesare 32; Ribeiro 46, 66
Msida St Joseph 1
Lattes 73

The fight for Championship Pool places has become a tad more exciting and uncertain.

After Ħamrun underlined their determination to keep pushing hard for a top-six slot with their emphatic dismissal of Sliema on Friday, yesterday it was Tarxien who improved their own prospects with a 3-1 victory over the faltering Msida.

Tarxien dominated long spells of possession but only had an Andrew Decesare goal to show for their first-half efforts.

Ribeiro hit a brace in the opening 21 minutes of the second half to settle Tarxien's nerves but Emiliano Lattes's goal for Msida made for an interesting finale as the battling Saints, who are second from bottom, refused to lie down.

Victory lifted Tarxien one point clear of Ħamrun and one behind Sliema and Floriana.

With David Camilleri serving the first of a two-match ban, Tarxien coach Noel Coleiro assigned the holding midfield role to Lee Galea who has mostly played at centre-half this season. Ryan Mintoff was drafted back into the first team to partner Everton in defence but Warren Chircop and Manuel Caruana were missing yesterday.

Keith Gouder, Msida's young coach, had to dig deep into his limited resources to pick his line-up as Tyrone Farrugia and Cedric Sciberras were ruled out by suspension and Stefano Grima is still injured. Adrian Farrugia recovered from a bout of flu to take his place among the substitutes.

On the plus side, Gouder could rely on Zoran Levnaic in midfield after the Serb returned from a trial in Tunisia. Wendell Gabriels also declared himself fit after shaking off a minor injury.

In the opening minutes, Ribeiro got himself in a good shooting position but his grounder lacked the power to trouble Manuel Bartolo, the Msida keeper.

For all their supremacy, Tarxien failed to stretch the makeshift Msida defence beyond routine work in the opening 20 minutes.

In an isolated Msida counter-attack, Roderick Baldacchino powered forward on the left before dinking a cross towards the goalmouth but keeper Anthony Curmi anticipated Gabriels.

Msida's uncompromising defending often induced Ribeiro to drop back to play a more active part in Tarxien's build-up approach.

Two minutes past the half-hour mark, Tarxien broke the deadlock. Msida thought they had averted danger when they cleared Denni's flick after Decesare had diverted the ball into the goalmouth. However, Ribeiro teed up Decesare who drilled the ball past the hapless Bartolo.

Msida threatened an equaliser six minutes from half-time. Baldacchino delivered a good cross from a free-kick and Levnaic laid the ball on to Miguel Ciantar but the latter's shot was repelled by Decesare. The rebound fell to Matthew Borda who hit an acrobatic shot but Curmi tipped the ball away for a corner.

At the other end, Lydon Micallef effected a vital clearance after Galea managed to apply a faint touch to Denni's corner. It was then Bartolo's turn to keep Msida's heads above water as he fisted away a shot by Calabretta.

Inside the first minute of the second half, Tarxien doubled their lead. Denni's through-ball caught Msida by surprise as did Ribeiro's run into the box which the Brazilian finished with aplomb.

Shortly afterwards, Tarxien could have made it 3-0. Bartolo's daring sortie backfired as the goalkeeper was outpaced by Calabretta on the right. The winger crossed towards the far post where Ribeiro looked odds-on to score but his header hit the post.

Msida looked rattled and only Calabretta's hesitancy spared them further embarrassment as the energetic youngster delayed his pass to Ribeiro whose effort was blocked.

Slowly, Msida came through their wobbly start to the second half and began to pose more questions to the Tarxien defence. Curmi did well to stop a corner by Adrian Farrugia. On another occasion, Lattes made good progress on the left but overhit his cross.

However, Msida's afternoon took a turn for the worse when Ribeiro scored Tarxien's third on 66 minutes. He nodded home at the far post after Msida had failed to deal with Justin Grioli's corner.

The game looked as good as over but Msida pulled one back with 17 minutes left. Latching on to a pass from Farrugia, Lattes shrugged off Luke Vella Critien's challenge and sidefooted the ball past Curmi.

Lattes was very much at the heart of Msida's improvement but the Argentine was lucky to stay on the pitch after his attempt to elbow Decesare went unnoticed by referee Andre Arciola.

The Saints would have gained more courage had Curmi not pushed out Baldacchino's shot. Tarxien were also quick to break on the counter as Ribeiro burst clear before squaring to Denni whose effort brought a brave save from Bartolo.

Tarxien Rainbows
A. Curmi-6, S. Sadowski-6, G. Calabretta-6.5 ('62 J. Grioli-6), Everton-6.5, Ribeiro-7, M. Tanti-6.5, A. Decesare-6.5 ('90 J. Shead), L. Vella Critien-5.5, Denni-6, R. Mintoff-6, L. Galea-5.5 ('71 K. Magro).

Msida St Joseph
M. Bartolo-6, L. Micallef-5, M. Borda-6, K. Mifsud-6, R. Baldacchino-7, I. Curmi-5 ('79 J. D'Amato), K. Ebejer-4 ('46 A. Farrugia-7), Z. Levnaic-7, E. Lattes-6.5, M. Ciantar-6, W. Gabriels-4 ('54 A. Formosa-6).

Referee: Andre Arciola.

Yellow cards: Curmi; Vella Critien; Calabretta; Lattes.

BoV player of the match: Ribeiro (Tarxien Rainbows).