Ten-man Rabat earn first win

Rabat A Pieta H 3 1

Ten-man Rabat grabbed the first victory of the season beating Pieta 3-1 in an entertaining match.

Rabat banked on a very positive first half in which they built a two-goal lead with well taken goals.

Credit also goes to Rabat who managed to increase their lead seconds after losing David Azzopardi.

With a three-goal cushion Rabat played with relative ease even though Pieta reduced the arrears minutes passed the hour. Pieta attacked for long stretches in the last 30 minutes of the game but the Rabat custodian was never under threat.

Pieta drew first blood with a Dimitrov freekick just missing the target. On the other end a Ryan Micallef scorcher was well saved by Chircop and minutes later the same Chircop was again outstanding saving another shot, this time from Goodman.

On 18 minutes Rabat took the lead when Ryan Micallef won a tackle in midfield and passed the ball towards Adam Smeir who slotted the ball home in style. On 29 minutes Pieta had a good opportunity following a melee in front of Mintoff, but Degabriele’s shot was blocked by the Rabat custodian.

On 34 minutes Mintoff made another great save denying Degabriele who tried his luck direct from a freekick. On 40 minutes Rabat doubled the score with a breathe taking goal from English striker Ethan Jay Goodman who beat Chircop with a great drive from a great distance. Just before the break a Dimitrov shot slightly missed the upright.

Four minutes into the second half rabat were down to ten men when David Azzopardi was sent off for stopping Mensah who was heading for goal.

But sixty seconds later Rabat increased their lead when when Joseph Caruana headed home following a Micallef freekick.

On 62 minutes Pieta pulled one back through Mensah, and the same player missed a very good opportunity minutes later.

Pieta continued to attack but the Rabat rearguard never gave away an inch to grab the first victory of the season.

S. Mintoff, N. Caruana, J. Caruana, S. Gauci, B. Micallef, A. Smeir (C. Vella), N. Attard (G. Bugeja), D. Falzon, E. Goodman (K. Muscat), R. Micallef, D. Azzopardi.

J. Chircop St.John, K. Micallef, C. Degabriele (N. Pace Cocks), T. Bartolo, D. Agius, M. Mifsud, Y. Dimitrov, C. Gauci (C. Stewart), G. Mensah, J.M. Ruiz Perez, A. Mizzi (J. Scicluna) Malcolm Spiteri Senglea A Mqabba Lija A Sirens Fgura U Għargħur Pieta H Naxxar L Vittoriosa S Melita Zebbug R Rabat A Marsa Qormi P 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 W 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 D 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 L 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 3 3

F A Pts 12 4 7 4 0 7 9 4 7 9 6 7 4 5 7 7 10 7 6 5 6 2 2 6 6 4 4 2 5 4 1 3 1 5 7 4 0 5 0 1 8 0