Tarxien bounce back from heavy defeat

Tarxien Rainbows returned to winning ways as they defeated Senglea Athletic 4-2 at the Centenary Stadium on Saturday.

The Rainbows, now led by coach Steve D’Amato, therefore bounced back from the heavy defeat to Santa Lucia last week and now move third from bottom. Senglea, on the other hand, suffer the twelfth successive defeat to remain anchored at the bottom of the table.

After just eight minutes, Senglea were reduced to ten men after Dion Fava was sent off for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity, bringing Vito Plut down as he was about to enter the area.

Tarxien took full advantage, taking the lead on the 23rd minute thanks to Darren Falzon who received a back-heel pass by Vito Plut and beat Matthew Farrugia with a diagonal shot from the right.

On the 38th, Tarxien scored the second goal through Camilo Escobar who headed the ball home off a freekick by Ivan Paz.

Just before half-time, Tarxien could have added another but Jurgen Debono was unlucky to hit the crossbar.

However, five minutes in the second half, Vito Plut made it 3-0, heading the ball home off a cross by Ivan Paz from the left.

Senglea reduced the gap thanks to a Dibola Diwoto Junior penalty on the 64th minute after Debono handled the ball inside the area.

Substitute David Xuereb scored another for Senglea on the 76th when he beat Fernandes with a well-placed shot from the left.

However six minutes from time, Vito Plut made it 4-2, hitting low past Farrugia following an assist by Paz from the left.

TARXIEN Daniel Fernandes, Carlos Conceicao Filho (Cedric Zahra 92’), Edison Bilbao Zarate (Dale Tabone 92’), Darren Falzon, Vito Plut, Jurgen Debono (Luke Sciberras 77’), Leonardo Henrique Ferreira (Matthew Spiteri 69’), Ivan Edgardo Paz (Keith Attard 92’), Kyle Gatt, Matthew Tabone, Camilo Escobar.
Coach: Steve D’Amato

SENGLEA Matthew Farrugia, Sergio Uyi (Luca Brincat 46’), Alan Abela, Firas Aboulezz (Charlo Buttigieg 87’), Freud Gnindokponou (David Xuereb 59’), Samuel Buhagiar, Igor Misan, Dion Fava, Andre Scicluna, Junior Dibola Diwoto (Joseph Attard 86’), Dejan Kukic.
Coach: Clive Mizzi

Referee: Philip Farrugia
Assistant Referees: Paul Apap, Ivan Galea
Fourth Official: Malcolm Spiteri
Yellow Cards: none
Red Cards: 8’ Dion Fava
BOV Player of the Match:  Ivan Edgardo Paz