Tarxien Rainbows 2
Costa 70; Carabott 73;
Qormi 0
Tarxien coach Patrick Curmi breathed a sigh of relief the moment, Adrian Carabott headed the ball into the net to put his team 2-0 ahead. But it was nothing compared to his explosion of joy at the final whistle when the Rainbows ended a run of four straight defeats with victory against the out-of-form Qormi.
For the Yellows-Blacks, this was their third consecutive defeat that piles on the pressure on Stephen Azzopardi’s men in their bid to retain their place in the top six, especially after Balzan’s stunning victory over Hibernians on Friday night lifted the newly-promoted side level on points with Qormi.
Then there is the quandary of how Azzopardi can accommodate Matthew Bartolo, Jorginho, Abubakar Bello-Osagie and Daniel Nwoke in the same formation while retaining sufficient central-midfield strength to protect a sometimes vulnerable defence.
In fact, the Qormi coach yesterday opted to leave Nwoke on the bench as Bello-Osagie shook off a hamstring injury to return to the starting formation.
Both sides made a surprise change in goal with the regular first-choice dropped to the bench as Qormi’s Steve Sultana and Tarxien’s David Cassar paid the price for their teams’ lame showings of late.
Tarxien coach Patrick Curmi had to make do without Carl Sammut suspended, and injured duo Stefan Giglio and Daniel Mariano Bueno but he was boosted by the return of Ryan Mintoff. Azzopardi welcomed back Roderick Sammut who missed the 4-1 defeat to Valletta.
The Qormi coach must have warned his players about the threat posed by Ricardo Costa and the Brazilian was a real handful for Qormi’s defence as he was causing all sorts of problems in the opening period.
The clock marked seven minutes when Ricardo headed the ball into the path of Karl Pulo who took advantage of some shambolic Qormi defending, to evade the challenge of Sammut and Jonathan Bondin but he crashed his effort against the bar.
Ten minutes later, Ricardo wasted a glorious opportunity to put the Rainbows ahead when he side-footed wide of an open goal when he arrived unmarked at the far post after Caio Garcia Suguino’s pass.
On 21 minutes, Ricardo was given time and space on the left and he played a perfectly weighted pass for Caio but Farrugia dashed out of his goal to dive at his feet and block the ball.
At the other end, Jorginho and Bello-Osagie were struggling to get into the game and the one-way traffic continued when Ricardo’s header was brilliantly blocked on the line by the expertly positioned Bondin on the half hour mark.
As half-time approached and with Qormi desperate to get into the dressing room and regroup, Farrugia rescued the Yellows when he punched away Ricardo’s stinging drive.
Little had been seen of Qormi until just after the restart when Jorginho dragged an effort agonisingly wide.
Tarxien finally forced their way through after 70 minutes. Caio played in Ricardo who sped through, rounded Farrugia and deposited the ball into an empty net.
Qormi, were, perhaps understandably, deflated at the setback and it was no surprise when Carabott added Tarxien’s second, three minutes later as he headed Caio’s cross past Farrugia from close-range.
Qormi’s response was a tame one and they managed only a handful of meaningful efforts, the best of which came from Jeffrey Chetcuti who headed Jorginho’s delivery wide.
But the fact that it took Tarxien goalkeepr Nicky Vella until the 79th minute to effect his first serious save of the afternoon, tells its own story.
Tarxien Rainbows
N. Vella-5, Everton-6.5, R. Costa-7, O. Anonam-7, J. Grioli-6, S. Sadowski-6, C. Suguino-8, M. Caruana-6.5, A. Carabott-65. (80 L. Vella Critien), R. Mintoff-6, K. Pulo-7 (89 J.Vella).
Qormi
M. Farrugia-5, M. Bartolo-5, Jos. Chetcuti-5, L. Sciberras-5 (46 Jef.Chetcuti-5), K. Scicluna-5, F. Mirarchi-5, J. Bondin-4.5 (81 S.Wellman), Jorginho-4.5, S. Duff-4.5, A.Bello-Osagie-5 (64 D. Nwoke-5), R. Sammut-6.5.
Referee: Marco Borg.
Yellow cards: Sciberras; Grioli; Jos.Chetcuti.
BOV Player of the match: Caio Garcia Suguino (Tarxien Rainbows).