Mqabba 1
Rabat Ajax 1
Despite playing with 10 men for almost an hour, Rabat Ajax showed commendable resilience as they held Mqabba to a 1-1 draw to earn their first point of the season after four successive defeats.
After Rabat goalkeeper Jonathan Azzopardi had been sent off for a 'professional' foul, the Magpies continued to fight for every ball and raised their performance to new levels in the second half.
Inspired by man-of-the-match Jonathan Bezzina, Adam Smeir and Josef Tonna, Rabat turned in their best showing in this season's Division One League.
For their part, Mqabba suffered a blow when John Paul Muscat injured his back during the warm-up and had to pull out of the match. His place was taken by Michael Camilleri.
Michael Borg Olivier was in fine form for Mqabba but he was offered little support from his midfield counterparts.
The two teams were very erratic in the opening stages. As time passed, Mqabba began to show more cohesion. On 20 minutes, Paul Chimezie anticipated Rabat goalkeeper Azzopardi as he collected a pass from Shawn Magro. However, Azzopardi managed to deflect Chimezie's concluding effort away for a corner.
A minute later, Azzopardi was prominent again. The Rabat defence panicked and lost the ball in their own half, allowing Borg Olivier to burst clear but Azzopardi dived bravely at his feet to block his run.
Rabat responded on 23 minutes and Smeir was unlucky that his close-range header just missed the target from Joseph Caruana's measured cross. Three minutes past the half hour, Chimezie's free-kick for Mqabba finished just over the top and two minutes later, the Rabat goalkeeper was sent off for tripping Borg Olivier who was clear after evading the offside trap. Referee Clayton Pisani had no option but to send Azzopardi for an early shower.
Two minutes later, Mqabba forged ahead. Claudio Calleja put Chimezie through and the Nigerian slotted the ball home from close range.
On resumption, Rabat tried to get back into the game as early as possible and on 48 minutes, Christopher Schembri's free-kick was off target.
The Magpies continued to attack and nine minutes into the second half, Bezzina's close-range effort, following a fine one-two with Emanuel Muscat, was saved for a corner by Kris Calleja.
Camilleri might have doubled Mqabba's lead when he received an intelligent pass from Chimezie but the midfielder was thwarted by substitute goalkeeper James Borg.
On 59 minutes, Mqabba's Mauro Bonnici headed on to a post following a Chimezie scissors-kick.
Three minutes later, a melee in the Mqabba box ended with Bezzina driving the ball over the crossbar.
Rabat were now pushing more men forward. After forcing several corners, Smeir found the target with a magnificent free-kick from 25 metres, six minutes from time.
Glen Magri could have won it for Rabat three minutes from the end but he concluded his fine solo run by firing straight at Calleja who parried his effort. The rebound rolled towards Magri but he shot weakly and Calleja saved again.
Mqabba
K. Calleja, M. Bonnici, P. Grima, M.A. Psaila, S. Magro, D. Azzopardi, P. Chimezie, C. Calleja, M. Camilleri (L. Baldacchino), E. Borg, M. Borg Olivier.
Rabat
J. Azzopardi, J. Bezzina, J. Tonna, J. Caruana, A. Mifsud (G. Magri), A. Smeir, D. Galea (J. Borg), D. Falzon (A. Zahra), C. Schembri, E. Muscat, E. Azzopardi.
Referee: Clayton Pisani.
Red card: J. Azzopardi (R) 35.
Man of the match: Jonathan Bezzina (Rabat Ajax).