Rejuvenated Stripes see off Rainbows to go second

Tarxien Rainbows 1
Sergio 33 pen;
Birkirkara 3
Galea 10; Lattes 46; Fenech 77 ;

Birkirkara put a string of uninspiring performances behind them yesterday as they dismissed the challenge of Tarxien Rainbows in a hard-fought encounter.

It was by far one of the best showings by the Stripes this season as Paul Zammit’s men seized control from the early stages, giving little chance to Tarxien’s Brazilian stalwarts to have any influence on the match.

Michael Galea’s well-taken opening goal put the Stripes in the driving seat with Tarxien clearly struggling to crawl their way back into the match.

However, the Stripes suffered an unexpected setback on 33 minutes when the Rainbows levelled courtesy of a disputed penalty that was converted by the skilful Sergio.

Tarxien’s equaliser failed to knock Birkirkara off their stride though as the champions soon regained their composure and restored their advantage through Emiliano Lattes in their first attack of the second half.

There was no way back for the Rainbows after Birkirkara had gone 2-1 up with Paul Fenech sealing the points late on.

In the end, the Stripes collected three valuable points that lifted them to second in the standings, five points adrift of leaders Valletta who face Ħamrun Spartans this afternoon.

More importantly, the emphatic manner of their win yesterday will restore some much-needed belief among the Birkirkara players, an element that looked missing in recent weeks.

Zammit was forced to make one change to his starting formation from the goalless draw with Tarxien the previous week as Angus Buhagiar was ruled out with a knee injury. He was replaced by Serbian Nikola Vukanac. Trevor Cilia is still sidelined with a hamstring problem.

Noel Coleiro, the Tarxien coach, welcomed Ricardo back in the fray after the Brazilian recovered from a knee injury but Daniel Mariano Bueno was serving the first of a three-match ban.

Mark Tanti was another notable absentee from the Rainbows’ starting XI as the midfielder is hampered by an ankle injury. His place was taken by the returning Manuel Caruana.

As expected, the opening exchanges were balanced with neither side seemingly capable of gaining the upperhand.

But, after 10 minutes, Galea put the Stripes in command with a fine goal. The Birkirkara captain controlled the ball on the edge of the area and let fly a powerful drive that gave Tarxien goalkeeper David Cassar no chance.

This early breakthrough inevitably settled Birkirkara’s nerves and it certainly showed in their improved play. On 17 minutes, Shaun Bajada curled a dangerous cross towards Ibrahim Babatunde whose diving header flew just wide.

The Rainbows looked short of ideas up front but, on the half hour, they had the ball in the Birkirkara net when Sergio’s free-kick fell into the path of Ricardo who rammed the ball past Michael Fraser. However, the ‘goal’ was annulled for offside.

Tarxien only had to wait three minutes to equalise. Cristiano dashed into the area and lost his balance when challenged by Patrick Borg. Assistant referee Philip Agius signalled that the Birkirkara defender had fouled the Tarxien striker and referee Adrian Azzopardi pointed to the spot, much to the frustration of the Stripes.

Sergio stepped up for the penalty and drilled his shot into the bottom-right corner of Fraser’s goal to make it 1-1.

The goal temporarily slowed the Stripes’ momentum but a minute from the break Lattes evaded his marker on the left and produced a powerful shot that flew just over.

Birkirkara began the second half strongly, taking just 60 seconds to reclaim their one-goal lead. Paul Fenech’s defence-splitting pass released Lattes who burst through and placed the ball beyond Cassar.

The Stripes were clearly on top now and on 53 minutes, Vukanac sent in a dangerous cross that was met by Fenech but Cassar tipped the midfielder’s header away for a corner. From the ensuing flag kick, taken by Bajada, Andrei Agius’s volley crashed against the upright.

A minute later, Cassar was again at his best as he pushed away Fenech’s stinging drive.

Coleiro effected his first change on 56 minutes when he withdrew the tiring Steve Sadowski and put in Julian Vella in a bid to counter Birkirkara’s threat on the flanks.

Midway into the second half, Babatunde came close to scoring his first goal since joining Birkirkara earlier this month but, after latching on to a feeble shot from Lattes, the Nigerian’s powerful drive was fisted away by Cassar.

Birkirkara all but wrapped up the points 13 minutes from time when Bajada quickly passed to the steaming Fenech on the left and the midfielder sped into the area before hitting a grounder that trickled past Cassar and into the net.

Lattes almost added a fourth on 85 minutes when profiting from Justin Grioli’s poor defending but the Argentine’s rising shot just missed the target.

Tarxien: D. Cassar-6.5, S. Sadowski-5 (56 J. Vella-5.5), M. Caruana-6, Everton-6, Ricardo-5.5 (79 S. Hili), Cristiano-6, Sergio-6 (87 A. Farrugia), L. Vella Critien-5, O. Anonam-6, L. Galea-5, J. Grioli-5.

Birkirkara: M. Fraser-6, E. Lattes-7.5, J. Zerafa-6.5, N. Vukanac-6, P. Fenech-7, R. Muscat-6.5, I. Babatunde-6.5 (84 A. Decesare), S. Bajada-6.5 (90 R. Scicluna), P. Borg-6.5, M. Galea-6.5 (90 R. Kumbrevicius), A. Agius-6.5.

Referee: Adrian Azzopardi.

Yellow cards: Cristiano Zerafa; Borg; Caruana; Bajada; Grioli.

BOV player of the match: Emiliano Lattes (Birkirkara).

Attendance: 971.