RABAT AJAX 1
Pendas 22
NAXXAR LIONS 2
Gilmar 52; Buhagiar 61
Two quick Naxxar Lions goals midway through the second half saw Winston Muscat’s side coming from behind to beat Rabat Ajax comfortably this afternoon.
An early Diego Carrillo Pendas goal gave the sparse Rabat crowd present hopes that this could be a good day for their side. But in the second half, Naxxar started to show class and inspired by the strong running of Daren Falzon, Ousseni Zongo and Gilmar, they pegged the Magpies in their own half as it was only a matter of time before they turned the tide in their favour for a merited victory.
The Lions made a high-tempo start and in the third minute, Mattia Del Negro drifted a cross into the path of Ousseni Zonfo who saw his header bounce off Pavle Velimirovic’s bar.
The tide soon turned though and the Magpies clicked into higher gear. In the 22nd minute, Thiago Lopes illegally ended Smeir’s first serious venture towards the Naxxar area. The free-kick was awarded on the left flank in perfect Pendas territory and the Spaniard produced a delightful right-foot strike that bent away from Julian Azzopardi’s despairing dive and into the net via the post.
At the other end, Daren Falzon gave the illusion of goal as his free-kick flashed against the side-netting.
Naxxar who brought on talisman Victor Bellia, laid under siege as the second half started. Suddenly Rabat no longer looked so impressive on the counter-attack and were unable to close down the Lions’ attacking trio with Falzon now roaming freely in the opponents’ half. In the 50th minute, Pablo Doffo curled a 30-metre freekick towards the top corner but Velimirovic managed to reach it , just enough to push the ball onto the bar and out.
But Naxxar did not have to wait long to score as two minutes later, Gilmar levelled matters from a tight angle after a nifty back heel pass from Falzon.
Hardly nine minutes passed when Rabat suffered another setback. They were caught on the wrong foot at the back as Falzon and Buhagiar lined up down the Ajax’ problematic left-flank as the former Birkirkara player strode into the box before cutting past David Azzopardi and Ivan Carapic to slot the ball behind Velimirovic.