Mosta back to winning ways

MOSTA - 2, TARXIEN - 1

An amazing goal by Adrian Borg helped Mosta to move off the bottom of the table. The Mosta defender scored with a free-kick 40 metres from Tarxien's goal and, with the help of the wind, flew over the Rainbows goalkeeper David Cassar.

It was first blood to Mosta in ding-dong opening exchanges when Jonathan Bajada playing on the left, collected the ball from just outside his own half and sped up to the edge of the area to cross for Obiefule but the Nigerian striker was thwarted by the fast-approaching David Cassar. However, the goalkeeper could only divert the ball into the path of Ian Zammit who cheekily nudged the ball in via the foot of the post.

Ricardo Costa had a shot blocked by Yannick Ossok before the Rainbows finally equalised in the tenth minute as they won a corner on the left.

Suguino swung the ball into the area and Orosco Anonam beat Jonathan Debono to the punch who thundered a powerful header against crossbar with Ricardo Costa nodding in the follow-up.

Any fears the meagre viewing public had of a slower-paced second half were gloriously dismissed within the first few moments of the restart. In the 46th minute, Zammit produced a swerving shot which dipped viciously, only for Tarxien goalkeeper Cassar to fling himself across goal and pulled off a brilliant save.

But rather than the end-to-end action of the first period, much of the entertainment took place in the Tarxien third.

On the hour mark, Mosta's pressure paid off when Adrian Borg scored a goal out of nothing as he used the strong wind to his advantage with a curling free-kick that looped over the goalkeeper.

A flying lunge from Gilbert Martin, catching substitute Lee Galea off balance, produced a red card which reduced Mosta to 10 men, 12 minutes from time.

But any idea Tarxien had of making the most of their numerical advantage was short-lived when on 80 minutes, Costa was shown a straight red for leading with his elbow in an aerial challenge on Federico Tisbi.