Ħamrun Spartans 1 Tarxien Rainbows 1

The few fans who braved the inclement weather in a hope of a breathless goalfest were to be sadly disappointed. Instead they saw a drab encounter with little excitement.

Yet, at the end of the match, both coaches must be satisfied with share of spoils. The result will be a welcome glimmer of hope for new Tarxien coach Clive Mizzi who arrested his side's barren run of two consecutive defeats to earn the first point as Ħamrun's Stefan Sultana remained unbeaten.

Tarxien had the Spartans on the backfoot from the outset but they had to wait until the 24th minute to fashion their first scoring opportunity. Grioli broke clear on the right before crossing towards the far post where Bueno scuffed his volley over the bar. Three minutes later, Massimo Grima got a vital touch on Esposito's close range shot to turn it wide.

The Rainbows didn't have to wait long to put their noses in front. In the 36th minute, Esposito was fouled just out the area. From the resultant free-kick taken by Evaldo, the ball hit the crossbar and Bueno headed in the rebound to break the deadlock.

The Spartans were reduced to chasing shadows in the opening period and Sultana made a double substitution at half-time with Spiteri and Vergilov making way for Bozhov and debutant Richard Brightwell.

But the moment referee Clayton Pisani signaled the start of the second period, torrential rain swept across the National Stadium drenching the players for half an hour.

The slippery surface and difficult conditions did not help matters as Ħamrun tried to surge forward to equalise.

But Ħamrun's afternoon looked to have taken a turn for the worse when, on 56 minutes, their goalkeeper Andrea Cassar needed to come swiftly out of his area in a bid to clear the danger as Eposito broke through only to handle the ball outside the box, with the consequence that Cassar was sent off by Pisani.

Anthony Curmi, Ħamrun's reserve goalkeeper came on for Camilleri. More hard luck befell Ħamrun in the 73 minute, when Mamo back-headed the ball in bid to clear a free-kick by Angel Yoshev but David Cassar pulled off a remarkably elastic save to deny the Spartans the equaliser.

But the Rainbows' resistance came to an end three minutes from time with Evaldo's mistimed intervention. Fastening onto a teasing ball from midfield, Vitanov veered to his left to evade the Brazilian defender only to be brought down in the box. Massimo Grima made no mistake from the spot.

That settled the nerves of the few Ħamrun Spartans supporters in the stands who braved the cold weather.