Tarxien Rainbows 7
Toure 9 pen, 39; Jorge 15; Bonnici 21; Barbosa 27; Pulo 42; Bueno 47;
Rabat Ajax 1
Carrillo Pendas 69;

A six-goal flurry in the opening half paved the way for Tarxien Rainbows who cruised past the already-doomed Rabat Ajax to secure their Premier League status.

As the scoreline clearly indicates, this was a mismatch with the Rainbows in a class of their own as they got the win they wanted to complete their survival mission.

Once Demba Toure put Clive Mizzi’s troops ahead early on there was no way back for the Magpies who struggled to contend with the pace of the Tarxien forwards.

For the Rainbows this was their biggest win of the season. Victory came against a Rabat team whose only three-pointer so far this season came against Tarxien early in the campaign.

The Rainbows were soon on the offensive and opened the scoring in their first notable raid on nine minutes when David Azzopardi was adjudged to have touched the ball with his hands in his effort to block a William Barbosa centre.

Toure rammed his spot-kick past goalkeeper Jonathan Azzo-pardi.

That goal settled the nerves Tarxien might have had as they continued to call the tune.

The Magpies’ defensive weaknesses were exposed by Jorge on 15 minutes when the Brazilian was allowed space and time to wriggle his way inside the box before placing the ball inside the net.

The Ajax’s early woes further deepened with 21 minutes gone.

Jorge delivered an inviting ball into the box and in came defender Steve Bonnici who dived to head home past the keeper.

The Rainbows were in rampant mood. On 27 minutes, Barbosa advanced on the left before unleashing a rasping drive that arrowed over Azzopardi and into the far corner.

Rabat failed to thwart Tarxien from adding a fifth goal on 39 minutes. Toure ran on to an inch-perfect Barbosa throughball to stab in from routine distance.

Tarxien were not finished yet and Karl Pulo got himself on the end of Carlo Mamo’s cross before making it 6-0 with Toure’s dummy foiling the Rabat goalkeeper.

Tarxien’s siege showed no signs of abating after the break. From a corner, Pulo’s dipping cross was met by Daniel Mariano Bueno whose flick had the better of Azzopardi.

Mizzi’s troops took their foot off the pedal, much to the relief of the Rabat players who were now sharing the exchanges with their opponents even though they rarely ventured inside Nicky Vella’s box.

But on 69 minutes, Diego Carrillo Pendas grabbed a consolation goal for Rabat when firing into the top corner of the net after receiving an inviting ball from substitute Aidan Azzopardi.

Tarxien Rainbows
N. Vella-6, C. Mamo-6, L. Martinelli-6, D. Toure-6.5 (50 N. Vella I-5), W. Barbosa-7.5, C. Hevia-6, D. M. Bueno-6, K. Pulo-7, J. Mifsud-6 (46 S. Sadowski-5), S. Bonnici-6.5, Jorge-7 (50 N. Vella II-5.5).

Rabat Ajax
J. Azzopardi-4, S. Gauci-4, D. Azzopardi-4, I. Carapic-4, Z. Tanti-4, P. Borg-5, J. Bajada (20 A. Azzopardi-5.5), J. Caruana-5, R. Micallef-3 (60 S. Oproiescu-4), M. Licari-4, D. Carrillo Pendas-6.

Referee: Alan Mario Sant.

Yellow cards: Azzopardi, Jorge.

BOV Player of the match: William Barbosa (Tarxien Rainbows).

  P W D L F A Pts
Birkirkara 31 25 3 3 76 23 50
Valletta 30 22 5 3 71 21 45
Hibernians 31 18 4 9 76 48 35
Mosta 30 14 5 11 55 56 28
Sliema 30 13 9 8 51 41 27
Balzan 30 9 5 16 35 54 18
               
Floriana 31 13 5 13 48 47 27
Qormi 31 10 4 17 49 58 26
Tarxien 31 9 6 16 47 53 25
Vittoriosa 31 9 6 16 40 63 24
Naxxar Lions 31 10 6 15 37 54 23
Rabat Ajax 31 1 4 26 22 89 4

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