Tarxien Rainbows 0
Valletta 6
Nafti 14; Barry 38 pen, 74; Elford-Alliyu 52, 87; Kooh Sohna 88;

Valletta still have a lot to do to reel in leaders Hibs but this stunning win only served to reinforce the view that the champions will not surrender the title without a fight.

Buoyed by a 5-0 annihilation of Mosta, the Citizens extended their rich seam of form yesterday, producing another sublime performance to shred Tarxien to pieces.

With the attacking zephyrs in Valletta’s line-up heeding coach Ivan Zammit’s instructions to move constantly off the ball and switch positions, the tone of the game was set in the opening minutes when Abdelkarim Nafti hit home from close in after being teed up by Roderick Briffa.

Tarxien simply had no answer to their opponents’ unrelenting movement. Lateef Elford-Alliyu and Hamza Barry chipped in with a brace each but the only travesty was that Briffa failed to get a goal his performance richly deserved.

It was certainly not for want of trying as the Malta midfielder not only engineered most of his team’s best moves but also popped up in menacing positions, twice being denied by the woodwork as Valletta threatened to achieve a victory of tennistic proportions.

The efforts of Briffa and his team-mates will have pleased not only the restless Zammit but also national coach Pietro Ghedin as Valletta’s performance provided a good advert for Maltese football, what with Albania coach Gigi De Biasi watching.

City captain Ryan Fenech, back in the reckoning after recovering from a muscle strain, was preferred to Hugo Faria in the only change from the thrashing of Mosta.

Elford-Alliyu was at the apex of Valletta’s fluid 4-1-2-3 formation with Barry and Nafti often veering infield from their wide stations.

The Tarxien line-up showed a raft of changes from the 2-0 loss to Sliema as keeper Jonathan Debono, Kane Farrugia, Luke Zahra and Matthew Tabone returned to the starting XI. Defender Owen Bugeja was missing while Carlos Hevia Menendez and Alessandro Lopes Pereira were on the bench.

Coach Clive Mizzi deployed Wesley Lima as main striker with fellow Brazilians Clebinho and Jorge providing support from behind in a 4-2-3-1 approach.

Inside the opening three minutes, Shaun Bajada, running clear on the left, produced an audacious chip that skimmed the far post.

Tarxien’s Ryan Sammut then hurled his body in the way of Barry’s drive as Valletta tore into their opponents from the off.

Their brisk start yielded an opener after 14 minutes. Briffa, making headway on the right, drifted into the box before laying the ball to Nafti who prodded past Debono.

The Tarxien keeper then pushed away Barry’s cross-cum-shot as the champions stayed in ascendancy.

It was not before the 26th minute that Tarxien fashioned their first chance. Clebinho’s run unpicked the City defence as he guided an intelligent pass to Wesley who tried to shake off Ryan Camilleri’s challenge but the latter stood firm to repel the Tarxien striker’s effort.

Nafti then lifted his shot over the bar as the champions maintained a firm grip on the proceedings, forcing Tarxien to play catch-up.

With Tarxien down to 10 men as Jorge was being attended to after sustaining an injury, the Whites extended their lead before half-time. They were awarded a penalty after Sammut was adjudged to have wrestled Barry to the ground as the two grappled inside the box. Barry made no mistake from the spot.

Another cohesive move after the break saw Briffa thread a through-ball to Nafti whose effort was turned away for a corner by Debono.

From the corner, taken by Bajada, Elford-Alliyu anticipated Debono to glance the ball into the net.

The Citizens continued to play vintage football. Barry played in Elford-Alliyu who laid the ball back for Nafti but the Tunisian hammered wide.

Briffa headed just wide from Nafti’s cross and then the Malta midfielder was unlucky as his grounder crashed against the post. There was no respite for Tarxien.

With 19 minutes remaining, Briffa supplied another great pass to Bajada who had stayed onside but his effort was kept out by Debono.

The score became 4-0 on 74 minutes, Barry darting through to lift the ball past Debono after a brilliant pass from Bajada.

Ten minutes from time, Briffa’s backheader, from Nafti’s service, caressed the crossbar as Valletta pressed for more.

The excellent Briffa tried to surprise Debono with a long-range lob but the ball sailed over the crossbar before the keeper denied substitute Raphael Kooh Sohna.

Three minutes from time, Elford-Alliyu got his second and Valletta’s fifth goal when turning in Nafti’s cross. Kooh Sohna also got in on the act, finishing with aplomb after sweeping past Debono.

Tarxien Rainbows
J. Debono-5, K. Farrugia-3, M. Caruana-3, Clebinho-5.5, T. Caruana-4, Wesley Lima-5 (62 S. Sadowski), R. Sammut-4, L. Zahra-4, A. Cini-5 (62 L. Aquilina-4), M. Tabone-3, J. Santos Silva-4 (40 M. Xerri-3).

Valletta
N. Vella-6, J. Caruana-7, I. Azzopardi-6.5, S. Borg-6.5 (72 L. Dimech), R. Camilleri-7, R. Fenech-6.5 (68 H. Faria), R. Briffa-8.5, L. Elford-Alliyu-7, H. Barry-8 (76 R. Kooh Sohna), S. Bajada-7, A. Nafti-7.5.

Referee: Alan Mario Sant. Yellow card Tabone.

BOV player of the match: Roderick Briffa (Valletta).

Attendance: 651.

Standings