Tarxien Rainbows 4
Pedro 18, Azzopardi 54, Hevia 64, Montebello 78 pen
Qormi 0
Tarxien Rainbows found little difficult to see off Qormi yesterday.
There was a huge gulf between the two sides, with Tarxien goalkeeper Andrea Cassar rarely tested.
Although Tarxien dominated play for long stretches, the action was mostly concentrated in midfield with Qormi having no other option but to defend for long spells.
Coach Jacques Scerri handed an instant return to key trio Bruno, Carlos Hevia and Joao Pedro who had missed the goalless draw to Mosta due to suspension. New signing Sergio Fernandez Prendes started ahead of Claudio Frances.
Qormi struggled to get their passing off the ground in the early stages and Tarxien soon seized the initiative to go ahead on 18 minutes.
Hevia sent a menacing cross that the yellow-shirted players failed to deal with and Pedro took his chance excellently with a low shot that gave Andreas Vella, the Qormi goalkeeper, no chance.
The goal failed to lift the tempo of the match as Tarxien were happy to go into the break 1-0 in front.
However, in the first 10 minutes of the second half, they created two scoring chances, the last of which yielded a second goal.
Four minutes after the restart, Pedro produced an inswinger from a corner that cannoned off the crossbar.
Soon after, Hevia passed to the advancing Ayrton Azzopardi who unleashed a stunning shot that evaded Vella’s clutches.
Tarxien were in total control and unlikely to let their two-goal advantage slip.
In fact, after 64 minutes, Luke Montebello picked Hevia inside the area and he ruthlessly buried the ball into the net.
Scerri’s boys added further gloss to their victory, when 12 minutes from time Kurt Magro handled Prendes’s cross inside the box with Montebello making no mistake from the spot-kick.
Tarxien: A. Cassar-6, E. Baker-6, Bruno-6, T. Caruana-6, B. Muscat-5.5, A. Azzopardi-6.5 (66 J. Mintoff-5), C. Hevia-7 (82 R. Spiteri), L. Montebello-6, S. Prendes-5, A. Alves-5.5 (70 A. Nilsson-5), J. Pedro-6.5
Qormi: A. Vella-5, O. Sidibe-5.5, N. Ojuola-5.5, A. Cassar-5, C. Gauci-5, R. Micallef-5 (72 P. Viggiani), D. Leeflang-4.5, Y. Yankam-4.5, G. Azzopardi-4.5, K. Magro-5 (79 J. Barbara), T. Vella-5 (83 I. Micallef).
Referee: Philip Farrugia.
Yellow cards: Magro, Baker.
BOV player of the match: Carlos Hevia (Tarxien Rainbows).