Senglea Athletic 2
Rabat Ajax 2

Promotion favourites Senglea failed to make it three wins in a row at the Centenary Stadium last night as they were held to a draw by lowly Rabat Ajax who jotted down their first point after two successive defeats.

Senglea almost broke the deadlock on three minutes but Rabat keeper Sean Mintoff did well to keep out efforts from De Souza Diaz and Juninho Cabral.

Rabat scored the opener on eight minutes against the run of play. From a swift attack, Ryan Micallef’s shot was half-parried by keeper Jeffrey Farrugia and Ethan Jay Goodman pounced on the rebound to put his team ahead.

Senglea tried to hit back but the efforts from Jurgen Farrugia and Wayne Borg never troubled Mintoff.

A minute before the break, Senglea were unlucky when Ryan Dalli’s header from a De Souza Dias cross hit the upright.

The unmarked Nikolai Attard had a good chance to double Rabat’s lead after the break but Farrugia was on the right spot to save.

Dalli hit badly from just inside the Rabat box and a minute later it seemed all over for Senglea as Goodman hit a scorcher from 30 metres out which flew past Farrugia and into the net.

But Senglea were soon back in contention thanks to a Cabral goal from a Pablo Doffo delivery.

Mintoff denied Keith Tanti with a timely save but the keeper was unable to stop Senglea from equalising on 75 minutes as substitute Dylan Xuereb rolled his shot home after a couple of other attempts were blocked by the Rabat rearguard.

Senglea: Jeffrey Farrugia, R. Vella, R. Tanti, J. Pace, Jurgen Farrugia (D. Xuereb), K. Tanti (K. Abela), P. Doffo, C. Cassar, R. Dalli (H. Vella), J. Cabral, M. De Sousa Dias.

Rabat: S. Mintoff, N. Caruana, J. Caruana, S. Gauci, W. Borg (G. Bugeja), B. Micallef, N. Attard, D. Falzon, E.J. Goodman (A. Smeir), R. Micallef (O. Touray), D. Azzo-pardi.

Referee: Etienne Mangion.

Best player: Ethan Jay Goodman (Senglea Athletic).