Tarxien 2
Xuereb 2 og; Pacheco 75;
Hibernians 0
When 23 years of local bragging rights are turned inside out, it is not altogether surprising that hearts judder and heads are lost.
A noisy crowd filled the stands at the Hibs Stadium but the Tarxien players were not overwhelmed. Their team manager John Vella summed up their feelings when he threw himself on grass at the final whistle.
The Rainbows, who have now won four successive derbies against their neighbouring rivals, looked lively from the outset with Sergio Pacheco de Oliveira, Cristiano Rodrigues and Ricardo Costa proving a constant threat to a shaky Hibernians rearguard.
The Paolites matched their opponents for most of a fiery match but the Rainbows started and finished strongly and created the better chances.
The more pleasing football was always played by Tarxien. Befitting a team almost rock-bottom of the Premier League, Hibernians’ confidence visibly ebbed away as they constantly failed to pierce the Tarxien rearguard as the Rainbows fans took pleasure in rubbing salt in their rivals’ wounds.
Drama started with kick-off in a typical highly-charged atmosphere as Tarxien took the lead in bizarre circumstances after just 95 seconds. Mario Muscat’s attempted clearance hit Hibs team-mate Jonathan Pearson and the ball flew inside the net for a strange own-goal.
With the ‘home side’ forced to reshuffle their pack and chase the game, Tarxien had countless chances to take the result beyond their neighbours’ reach.
The Rainbows’ biggest hope to put Hibs out of sight came in the shape of midfielder Gianluca Calabretta, included in the starting line-up ahead of Daniel Mariano Bueno and Manuel Caruana.
However, Calabretta looked out of sorts for Tarxien as he wasted a string of chances in the opening period including a goal-bound chip that was easily hooked away by Muscat.
And the young midfielder was out of luck again after 37 minutes when he again capitalised on another poor clearance to send a volley straight into the chest of the Hibs keeper.
Yet, Hibernians tried to stay in touch and had a hatful of chances of their own.
Their biggest hope of grabbing hold of a lifeline in the opening period came after 37 minutes in the shape of Scottish striker Paul McManus. From Richie Hart’s cross from the left, McManus hung in the air to direct a looping header just wide with Cassar stranded.
Hibernians were poor throughout the first half, and would have surely faced a half-time rollicking from coach Mark Miller. Yet, the talk had no immediate effect as Tarxien continued to dominate.
In the 48th minute, Mark Tanti flashed a shot across goal and wide.
But the Paolites responded well and on 52 minutes McManus forced a superb save from Cassar with the Tarxien keeper diving to his right to palm away a vicious volley.
With the game now finely balanced, an excellent three-man move on the hour mark involving Cristiano dos Santos, Ricardo Costa and Tanti almost brought about Tarxien’s second goal but Edward Herrera did well to clear the danger in time.
At the other end, Mat Clarke also had a great chance to equalise but failed to connect properly with only the keeper to beat.
Shortly afterwards, Justin Grioli teased a speculative long-range shot through a ruck of players, which finished off the bar. Costa proved a constant threat to the Hibs’ defence. After 73 minutes, the Brazilian passed inside to Dos Santos Rodrigues whose low drive was held out by Muscat.
Hibernians did not heed the warning and they were left reeling on 75 minutes when Pacheco de Oliveira blasted a stunning low drive behind Muscat.
Hibs had no answer to Costa’s direct run and he took advantage of the space afforded to him, running into the area before serving Pacheco de Oliveira on the other side of the pitch to fire low past Muscat and secure Tarxien’s fourth win on Hibernians in a year.
Tarxien Rainbows
D. Cassar-7, S. Sadowski-6, E. Pereira-6.5, G. Calabretta-6 (62 M. Caruana-6), R. Costa-8, C. Rodrigues-7, S. Pacheco-7 (88 S. Hili), M. Tanti-6 (79 R. Mintoff), O. Anonam-7, L. Galea-7, J. Grioli-6.5.
Hibernians
M. Muscat-6, A. Pulis-5, M. Clarke-5, A. Xuereb-5 (84 T. Caruana), R. Hart-6, J. Pearson-5, P. McManus-6.5, Z. Levnaic-6, A. Cohen-5.5 (81 B. Kristensen), J.P. Farrugia-6 (81 S. Pisani), E. Herrera-5.
Referee: Adrian Azzopardi.
Yellow cards: Grioli, Xuereb, M. Caruana.
BOV player of the match: Sergio Pacheco de Oliveira (Tarxien).