Floriana romp to first victory

Another shaky display by Tarxien Rainbows, condemned them a second straight disastrous defeat, this time against superior Floriana. Five more goals conceded, a total of nine in two matches, and completely short of ideas, suggest that this may be a frustrating Premier League season for the Rainbows.

Floriana dismantled their weak opponents with two goals from Mario Fontanella, and one each from Varela, Pisani and Maurcio Vella for a deserved first win.

Tarxien gave a debut start to new former Balzan keeper Christian Cassar to fill in for the longterm injuries to Andrea Cassar and Dean Sciberras. They also had forward Ryan Darmanin suspended.

Their two first half goals both came courtesy of Tarxien defensive lapses.

A moment of hesitation between Grech and keeper Cassar allowed Mario Fontanella to pounce on the loose ball and knock it over the line for the Greens’ opening goal after 13 minutes.

The second, three minutes before the break, arrived after a Baldacchino powerful shot was poorly cleared by the Tarxien defenders and Ignacio Varela finished it off.

The Greens could have added further goals in the first half when Pisani had his effort turned into a corner by the Tarxien keeper and on 36 minutes Fontanella headed Vella’s cross from the left just over.

Floriana soon began building up a head of steam again after the interval. It had been already game over by the time Mario Fontanella added a third nine minutes into the second half, beating keeper Cassar with a low diagonal shot.

Things got worse for Tarxien, when they conceded a penalty and were down to ten men short of the hour. Cabral was put through inside the Tarxien area by Marcelina but was brought down from behind by Baker. It being the Tarxien defender’s second bookable offence, he was rightly expelled. This was the second conscutive time Tarxien had a player sent off in this new season. Steve Pisani tucked away the penalty with a confident strike.

Floriana’s fifth goal on 64 minutes was the result of poor goalkeeping when Christian Cassar failed to hold out Maurizio Vella’s low direct free kick.

And the bar came to Tarxien’s rescue on 75 minutes, when holding out Pepe’s header on a Fontanella cross.

Standings

Hibernians Valletta Floriana Gzira Hamrun Balzan St. Andrews Sliema Birkirkara Senglea A. Mosta Naxxar Lions Lija Athletic Tarxien PW 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 D 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 L 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 F 5 2 6 4 4 4 3 2 1 2 0 0 0 1 A Pts 0 6 0 6 1 4 0 3 2 3 3 3 6 3 2 1 1 1 3 1 1 0 2 0 4 0 9 0