MOSTA 0 TARXIEN RAINBOWS 0
Mosta and Tarxien earned a point apiece in an entertaining encounter which did little to bolster their ambitions of making inroads in the top part of the league standings. Victory would have strengthened either side’s position in the standings.
Tarxien’s Luke Montebello’s probing work upfront caused some apprehension for Mosta in those early stages. The Rainbows were playing better as demonstrated by a triangle of passes between Roderick Bajada, Montebello and Azzopardi. The final pass was aimed at the lanky striker who was too slow to react in front of goal.
As time passed by Mosta started to move out of their defensive shell to pose some problems. Ivan Zammit’s side could have taken the lead shy the half hour mark when Gwar was too quick for the Tarxien rearguard. He entered the box, back-heeled a pass to the onrushing Mensah but Andrea Cassar, the Rainbows goalkeeper, reading the Nigerian’s intentions, bravely went to the ground at the striker’s feet and saved.
It was much the same pattern after the break. On 51 minutes, Njousso released Onyekachi down the left and his cross found Ekani inside the box. The winger made an instinctive thrust with his chest to push the ball goalwards, but Cassar again made a stunning reaction save.
Tarxien tried to raise their game with Alex Alves da Paixao providing some flair in the Rainbow’s forward-moving momentum which was so lacking in the first hour of the match. In the 63rd minute, Alves had the ball in the net following an incursion from Triston Caruana but it was annulled for a linear infringement.
After 73 minutes, Azzopardi brought out the best of Omar Borg as the Mosta goalkeeper produced a smart save to deny the midfielder. However, Mosta did not defend en masse and sharp-shooter Brincat tried his luck from distance only to be thwarted by the impenetrable Cassar. Eight minutes from time, the goalkeeper pulled off a last remarkable save on the solid Kylie Frendo to earn his side a point.