Ten-man Żabbar survive Tarxien fightback to secure point

ŻABBAR SP  2         

Micallef 37; Cejas 73

TARXIEN RAINBOWS  2         

Nhayson 48; Santos 64

Tarxien Rainbows and Żabbar St Patrick shared four goals to take a point each following a 2-2 draw.

The Saints had two changes from the team which defeated Valletta as Jake Micallef and Kean Scicluna replaced Zean Leonardi and Ryan Scicluna.

The Rainbows, on the other hand, had four changes from the team which lost to Mosta as Miguel D’Alessandro, Erico Junior, Luke Anthony Borg and Wallisson Bahia were preferred to Andreas Vella, Marcus Grima, Kwasi Donsu and Jai Quitongo.

Żabbar went close on 13 minutes with a Mario Fontanella close range effort which was not held by goalkeeper Andrea Cassar with the ball eventually ending into a corner and from the resulting corner from the right, Jake Micallef header high.

On 22 minutes, Fontanella delivered a cross from the right and Luc Zongo headed the ball into a corner.

Seven minutes later, Vinicius De Paiva tested Cassar with a shot from outside the area. On the other side of the pitch, on the half hour, Zongo headed high off a free kick from the right.

The Saints managed to take the lead on 37 minutes. Jake Micallef took a loose ball and with a low shot from inside the area, he beat goalkeeper Andrea Cassar.

Kean Scicluna headed high off a corner from the left on 42 minutes and a minute later, Fontanella missed a good opportunity for Żabbar from close range.

Żabbar were reduced to ten men on 45 minutes after Brian Gambarte hit Nhayson with the elbow.

Three minutes in the second half, Tarxien levelled the score. Erico Junior concluded a good run on the right flank with an assist for Nhayson who slotted the ball past goalkeeper Jonathan Grech.

Tarxien took the lead on 64 minutes when off a corner from the right, Tiago Santos headed the ball past Grech.

However, Żabbar restored equilibrium on 73 minutes when Pedro Cejas received a cross from the left and slotted past goalkeeper Cassar.

Tarxien thought they had notched the winner four minutes in added time when off a cross by Jai Quitongo from the right, Andreas Vella headed home past Jonathan Grech.

However, the goal was disallowed following FVS review.