Senglea Athletic 2

Garzia 3, T.Vella 50

Tarxien Rainbows 2

Wellington 33, Calin 81

Ten-man Tarxien Rainbows recovered twice to salvage a point at the expense of Senglea Athletic in a match which developed into an interesting duel.

The first ten minutes of the encounter turned out be eventful as Senglea took the lead in the third minute. The Rainbows defence was still unsettled when Matias Garzia towered brilliantly to meet Gonzalo Virano’s corner and head into the net.

Barely eight minutes later Tarxien suffered another unexpected setback when Sean Cipriott was shown a straight red by referee Matthew Degabriele who ruled that the nippy midfielder had intentionally elbowed Senglea’s Jonathan Bondin.

Five minutes from half-time, Braga Gregori spurned a glorious chance when the midfielder opened his body and tried to place his shot inside the far post but Andrea Cassar saved with his feet.

Paolo Favaretto’s lads did get the early goal they wanted at the start of the second half. A cute move released Gregori on the right, the latter crossing low where Terence Vella had the easiest of task to slide into the net. Virano grasped his head in anguish when his header on a flag-kick by Ivan Paz went high.

A third goal for Senglea would have made life impossible for Tarxien but recovering a one-goal deficit was definitely not beyond the Rainbows.

So it proved nine minutes from time when Rainbows’ never-say-die attitude saw them scoring again. Calin outpaced her marker before directing a rising shot beyond Farrugia.

BOV Player of the match: Terence Vella (Senglea Athletic).