Tarxien Rainbows missed an early penalty and were made to pay as Kyrian Nwoko’s second half goal won all three points for St Andrews.
The Saints were fully worthy their victory as they showed more mobility, better teamwork and superior punch upfront.
The game was less than 12 minutes old when St Andrews appeared to have suffered a setback. They had a penalty whistled against them after Felix Udoh hauled down Aryton Azzopardi.
Referee Truston Farrugia pointed to the spot and booked the Saints defender but Jake Galea dived to his left to stop Pedro’s penalty. The rebound landed at the feet of Daniel Ponce de Leon. The Spanish midfielder aimed for but Galea stuck out his foot to save his fort again.
That miss jolted Tarxien’s early momentum but they didn’t take long to regain the initiative.
Six minutes from half-time, a long ball forward flicked on by Emerson Marcelina and Michael Johnson hesitated, allowing Ponce de Leon to nip in but Galea rush off his line to block the midfielder.
Their early pressure was unproductive and it was St Andrews who broke the deadlock eight minutes into the second half. Kyrian Nwoko eluded the attentions of Ebiabowei Baker and headed past a surprised Philip Schranz.
It was thought that Tarxien would react with more vehemence and accurate finishing. Fourteen minutes later, Ante Bakmaz earned a second booking after clipping Baker’s heels. Jose` Borg did not take risks and introduced defender Bong Won Che for Ryan Darmanin, a way of shutting up shop.
Tarxien kept probing with Marcelina and Triston Caruana the main schemers behind Alex Nilsson and Ponce de leon. However, they lost their earlier incisiveness with the Saints amassing more men in midfield. Alex Alves was out with his header after being served by Marcelina and then Caruana skied the ball just wide from just outside the box much to the relief of the St. Andrews clan. Two minutes from time, Tarxien also finished with 10 men after Baker earned a second yellow card for pulling Joseph Farrugia down near the halfway line.
After that the game petered out to a tame ending leaving Tarxien disappointed to succumbing to a second successive defeat.