Mosta 0
Tarxien 2
Bueno 8 pen; Danilo 59;
Mosta’s march up the standings came to a halt as the Blues crashed to an unexpected defeat to Tarxien Rainbows.
Mosta had come into the match on the back of four successive wins but the Blues were simply unrecognisable yesterday as they looked disjointed and lacked solidity at the back while their forward department misfired badly.
However, credit is also due to the Rainbows for a good performance. They showed sound tactical organisation and, inspired by the excellent running of their Brazilian trio of Danilo, Daniel Mariano Bueno and Andrezinho, they exposed their opponents’ weaknesses for a merited victory.
Mosta coach Steve D’Amato effected only one change from the team that beat Floriana 3-1 in their last outing as Jonathan Bajada was recalled to the starting formation at the expense of Firas Aboulezz who was serving a one-match ban.
Clive Mizzi, the Tarxien coach, gave the nod to Nicky Vella to start in goal as regular no.1 David Cassar was on the bench.
Manuel Caruana was back in the Rainbows starting XI to replace Brazilian Evaldo who began a two-match ban. Steve Sadowski, Karl Pulo and Ryan Sammut were roped in as Mark Tanti, Luiz Romulo De Castro and Orosco Anonam were unfit to be involved in the match.
Tarxien could not have hoped for a better start as, after eight minutes, they were awarded a penalty when Danilo was upended in the area by Ferdinando Apap with referee Paul Caruana immediately pointing to the spot.
Bueno stepped up for the spot-kick and sent goalkeeper Justin Haber the wrong way to put the Rainbows ahead.
Mosta were stunned and a minute later Tarxien almost grabbed a second goal.
Manolito Micallef hesitated in dealing with a long ball inside the Mosta box and in came Bueno who lobbed the ball over Haber but, luckily for the Blues, Apap was well positioned to clear the ball off the line.
Tarxien’s flourishing start hit Mosta hard. They were struggling to get into rhythm and looked short of creativity, committing a series of uncharacteristic mistakes when trying to play the ball forward inside their opponents’ territory.
In fact, Mosta’s first real attempt at goal arrived on 26 minutes when Carlos Campagnoli won a free-kick on the left but Ousseni Zongo’s inswinger finished just over.
Tarxien remained the more dangerous side though and on 32 minutes Pulo released the sprinting Roderick Bajada who saw his grounder blocked by Haber.
Vella was forced to make his first save of the game on 39 minutes when he dived fully to his right to push away Obinna Obiefule’s glancing header from a Micallef cross.
Mosta looked better after the break but it was Tarxien who almost doubled their lead when, from an Andrezinho corner, Justin Grioli’s header forced a smart save from Haber.
D’Amato’s men failed to heed that warning and on 59 minutes Tarxien increased their advantage. Andrezinho delivered a perfect ball towards Danilo who headed past the stranded Haber.
D’Amato’s response to this setback was to haul off Bajada and Obiefule and rope in Alex Cini and David Maia Dos Santos in a bid to revive his team’s fortunes. But, despite the changes, Mosta still struggled to create any decent scoring chances.
On 76 minutes they were awarded a central free-kick but Danail Mitev’s shot sailed over.
At the other end, it was Tarxien who almost added a third late on when, following a swift break, the impressive Andrezinho released Ryan Sammut but his shot from an angle was beaten away by Haber.
Mosta
J. Haber-5.5, F. Apap-5, B. Agius-5 (76 S. Bezzina), M. Micallef-5, L. Dimech-5, R. Grech-5, J. Bajada-5 (60 A. Cini-5), D. Mitev-4.5, C. Campagnoli-5, O. Obiefule-5 (62 D. Dos Santos-4), O. Zongo-6.
Tarxien Rainbows
N. Vella-6, S. Sadowski-6, C. Mamo-6.5, M. Caruana-6.5, J. Grioli-6, R. Bajada-6 (56 A. Agius-6), Danilo-7 (79 M. Tanti), Andrezinho-7.5, K. Pulo-6 (85 S. Bonnici), R. Sammut-6, D. Mariano Bueno-6.5.
Referee: Paul Caruana.
Yellow cards: Apap; Grioli; Andrezinho; Bajada; Mamo; Caruana.
BOV player of the match: Andrezinho (Tarxien Rainbows).
Attendance: 566.