Mosta 2
Micallef 12; Kaljevic 72;
Tarxien Rainbows 1
Cleber 53;

Bojan Kaljevic struck a late winner against Tarxien Rainbows yesterday to end Mosta’s five-game losing streak and hand caretaker coach Peter Smith a positive debut on the Blues bench.

This defeat was particularly hard on Rainbows mentor Clive Mizzi to fathom because of the way the match slipped from his players’ grasp as a result of sloppy defending that ultimately proved costly.

After some positional tinkering and the introduction of Cleber Viana Barbosa, Tarxien came on strong after the break to cancel Manolito Micallef’s opener but there was no way back for them when Kaljevic pounced on a defensive blunder to slot home the goal that mattered most.

Smith handed Tyrone Farrugia and Pedrinho a recall to the starting XI at the expense of Mark Brincat and Kurt Zammit, respectively.

Tarxien’s initial formation also featured two changes from the 1-1 draw against Floriana as Triston Caruana and Ryan Sammut replaced Manuel Caruana and Kane Farrugia who had to settle for a place on the bench.

Mosta’s resolve to take maximum points was in abundant evidence in the opening exchanges and they got off to the best possible start when Micallef scored on 12 minutes.

Kaljevic was the architect when sending in a cross from the right towards the far post where the unmarked Rodriguez Ekani squared for Micallef who prodded the ball home.

Nemanja Milovanovic and Kyle Frendo were deployed just in front of the central defenders in a 4-2-3-1 set-up with Kaljevic and Daniel Mariano Bueno leading the attacking line.

Tarxien were having problems getting the ball to their strike partnership of Alvaro and Wesley in a 4-4-2 diamond-shape configuration.

On 23 minutes, Carlos Hevia unleashed a powerful free-kick but Mosta custodian Omar Borg was well placed to neutralise the shot at his goal.

Shortly afterwards, Pedrinho got behind the slow-moving Tarxien defence, following a powerful surge by Kaljevic, but the Brazilian’s effort from inside the penalty area was touched away by the Tarxien goalkeeper who kept his side in the game.

At the other end, Wesley squandered a promising attack for Tarxien. After making progress down the right flank, he shot straight at Borg.

Mindful of his team’s troubles to penetrate Mosta’s rearguard, Mizzi introduced Cleber at the start of the second half and switched to 4-2-3-1 to mirror his opponents’ tactical positioning.

Cleber, an attacking midfielder, provided support for Wesley and increased Tarxien’s threat up front.

Cleber almost left an instant impact on the match as he drove wide after receiving from Jorge.

Then, on 52 minutes, Borg kept his goal intact when blocking Wesley’s goalbound effort.

Galvanised by this new lease of life, Tarxien pushed on and equalised a minute later.

Wesley slipped a perfect throughball to Cleber who arrowed his rising shot into the top corner.

Past the hour mark, Cleber picked out team-mate Wesley as Mosta left themselves exposed at the back. Luckily for Borg, Wesley’s grounder crashed against the foot of the upright.

But at the other end Mosta re-gained their lead in their first menacing attack of the second half.

A cross from the left by Kurt Magro caught Alex Cini and Alessandro Lopes off guard much to the delight of Kaljevic who pounced on the ball to drill his shot past the keeper.

A sense of anti-climax coursed through the Tarxien clan but Cleber refused to throw in the towel.

From the restart, the ball was transferred quickly upfield to the Brazilian whose swerving shot from edge of the box drew a fine save from Borg.

In time added on, Kaljevic could have scored his side’s third goal following a counter-attack. However, goalkeeper Sean Mintoff was on the right spot to deny the Mosta striker.

Tarxien Rainbows
S. Mintoff-6, O. Bugeja-6, Alvaro-5 (46 Cleber-7), T. Caruana-6, Wesley-7, R. Sammut-6, C. Hevia-6, A. Cini-5, M. Tabone-5.5 (66 M. Caruana-5), A. Lopes Pereira-5, Jorge-5.5.

Mosta
O. Borg-7, T. Farrugia-6, M. Micallef-6.5, R. Ekani-6, A. Borg-5 (46 M. Brincat-5), K. Frendo-5.5, K. Magro-6, B. Kaljevic-7, Pedrinho-4.5 (63 K. Zammit-5), N. Milovanovic-6, D.M. Bueno-6.5 (90 Y. Lo).

Referee: Sandro Spiteri.

Yellow cards: Magro, Tabone, Calcado, Caruana, Bugeja.

BOV player of the match: Wesley (Tarxien Rainbows).

Attendance: 688.

Standings

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Hibernians	10	9	1	0	29	6	28
Birkirkara	10	7	0	3	17	8	21
Valletta	11	6	1	4	19	7	19
Balzan	10	4	4	2	15	13	16
Mosta	11	5	1	5	11	20	16
Qormi	11	4	3	4	13	13	15
Sliema W.	11	3	4	4	10	13	13
Tarxien R.	11	2	6	3	14	14	12
Floriana	10	2	5	3	15	19	11
Naxxar L.	11	2	4	5	13	17	10
Pietà H.	11	2	3	6	7	17	9
Żebbuġ R.	11	0	4	7	12	28	4

Matches at Hibs Stadium postponed a second time

The two BOV Premier League matches from Match-day 11 at the Hibs Stadium were called off a second time, yesterday.

The Malta FA said in a statement that following another inspection at the ground in Corradino, it was deemed that the surface was still soggy and no matches could be held at the venue.

The two matches – Balzan vs Hibs and Birkirkara vs Floriana – will now be played this evening at the Hibs Stadium. The kick-off times were set at 6pm and 8pm respectively.