Tarxien R 4 Ħamrun S 1

Tarxien tightened their grip on fourth place in the Premier League with their eighth consecutive positive result and the prospect of championship pool football with a 4-1 win over Ħamrun Spartans.

Tarxien have 24 points, two more than Mosta who are not in action until Monday when they play Sliema Wanderers.

The Spartans broke the stalemate after 25 minutes, a free-kick by Grima scrambled through the Tarxien defence, Roderick Fenech hit the ball goalwards as it took a deflection by Evaldo before rolling into the net.

But Tarxien did stage an immediate reaction and a minute later after falling behind, Daniel Mariano Bueno rattled the underside of the bar with Cassar beaten, the ball bounced down apparently just over the line before it was cleared by Adrian Ivanov. Referee Glenn Tonna was certain that the ball did not cross the line and waved play on but TV replays suggested otherwise.

The Rainbows seized the moment and racked up the pressure on the Spartans defence. After 39 minutes, Anonam burst clear before slipping an perfect through-ball to Danilo who was unmarked inside the box and let defender Roderick Fenech with no option but to haul the Brazilian down. From the ensuing spot-kick, Bueno sent Cassar the wrong way.

Five minutes into the second half, Clive Mizzi’s troops snatched the lead when lax marking in the Ħarmun box gifted Tarxien their second goal, Anonam was left completely unmarked as he rose to meet Andrezinho’s corner to head the ball behind Cassar.

On the hour mark, Andrea Cassar moved off his line to cut Danilo down just outside the box. The referee only shown him a yellow card but there was no reprieve from the resulting free-kick as Andrezinho’s swevring free-kick gave Cassar no chance.

Seven minutes later, Evaldo heaped more misery on the Spartans when he found the perfect timing to resolve a goal mouth scramble.

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