Birkirkara were twice pegged by a resilient Tarxien Rainbows side in an entertaining match which finished in a two-all draw at the National Stadium.
The Stripes took the lead inside the opening two minutes when from a corner-kick action, Fabrizio Miccoli’s delivery was met by Nikola Vukanac who drilled the ball home with a half volley.
Tarxien hit back strongly and drew level on 13 minutes when Cain Attard was penalised for handling the ball inside the area and from the resultant penalty Joao Pedro drilled the ball past Birkirkara goalkeeper Justin Haber.
Birkirkara looked rattled and the Rainbows continue to pose problems to Birkirkara with Pedro’s surging runs forcing the opposing defenders to resort to a series of fouls.
However, poor marking coast Tarxien dearly on the half hour when Joseph Zerafa sped clear on the right before picking u the unmarked Miccoli who blasted past Andrea Cassar.
Vukanac had the ball into the Tarxien net a second time on 39 minutes when he headed home from a Miccoli free-kick but the ‘goal’ was annulled as the Serbian defender was adjudged to be in an offside position.
Birkirkara threatened again on 56 minutes when Andrea Cassar dived to his right to push away Miccoli’s free-kick. From the resultant flag-kick the young custodian again did well to push over Mauricio Mazzetti’s header.
On 63 minutes Tarxien protested for a penalty when Montebello fell under the challenge of Vukanac but the referee waved play on.
But the Rainbows struck a minute later when from a Triston Caruana corner-kick in came Baker who headed past Haber.
The Stripes almost regained their lead on 65 minutes when Miccoli hit a rasping volley from the edge of the area that came off the bar.
The Stripes continued to push more men forward and a minute from time Miccoli was awarded space on the edge of the area but the Italian fired wide.
Deep into stoppage time Birkirkara almost struck the winner when Liliu, who had earlier replaced Gareth Sciberras, saw his low drive pushed away by Cassar onto the post and from the rebound Ryan Camenzuli’s effort was cleared off the line by Bruno as Tarxien held on for a point.
Tarxien’s Joao Pedro was voted as the BOV Player of the match.