Sliema McDonalds returned to winning ways against a resurgent San Giljan Firetech in a hard fought encounter at the National Pool. The Blues won the 1st and second sessions quite comfortably 5-1 and 4-2 but San Giljan stormed back to win the third 5-3 to come within just two goals of Sliema in the final session.

However, Afric’s rotation policy again paid dividends when Sliema roared back to win the session 4-2 and register their second win of the season. John Soler was again the crucial link for Sliema with five goals while Mark Borg Spiteri and Paul Fava got the lion’s share of the saint’s nettings with three and four goals respectively.

Sliema McDonalds R Coleiro, M Spiteri Staines (2), N Lubrano (2), P Privitera (1), E Meli, J Soler (5), D Paolella (1), J Spiteri Staines, C Debono (2), C Cluett, M Rizzo (3), M Scudamore, D Abela

San Giljan Firetech D Camilleri, JC Cutajar (1), A Galea, K Galea (1), M Borg Spiteri (3), K Dowling, L Grixti, A Bianchi (1), K Mock, C Gialanze P Fava (4), M Fenech, K Schembri

Referees Alex DeRaffaele, Mario Dalli

Exiles Jet Services 6

Sirens Ritter Sports 12

(1-3), (1-3), (1-1), (3-5)

Exiles Jet Services crashed to their second defeat in four days when this time the stronger firepower and determined will of Sirens Ritter Sports got the better of the Sliema team. In fact Sirens prevailed in three out of four sessions building up a four goal lead after the first half of the game largely through the efforts of Clint Mercieca and Peter Borg who were instrumental in netting regularly.

Exiles were a slightly better side in the third session but could only keep the game at four while they crashed badly in the fourth with the St Paul’s Bay team prevailing 5-3 through a series of counters for a final result of 12-6 in their favour. Borg and Mercieca were top scorers for Sirens with three and four respectively while Pace Lupi and Grixti netted twice each for Exiles.

Exiles Jet Services A Borg Cole, J Rizzo Naudi (1), K Rizzo Naudi, D Pace Lupi (2), T Sullivan (1), M Calleja, J Paris, K Grixti (2), A Zarb Cousin, S Cini, S Vassallo, D Borg, K Lanzon

Sirens Ritter Sports J Sammut, A Attard, P Micallef, P Borg (3), A Sammut, R Mock (1), J Borg, D Cutajar (1), M Grech, C Zammit (1), L Caruana, D Zammit (2), C Mercieca (4)

Referees Massimo Angileri, Stefan Licari

Neptunes Emirates 18

Marsascala Solid Base 6

(6-0), (4-2), (4-1), (4-3)

In a one sided encounter from first to last, Neptunes Emirates notched up their second victory on the trot against a weak Marsascala Solid Base to rise to the top of the table with 10 points from five matches thus also ending their commitments in the first round unbeaten although they dropped precious points with two draws.

Neptunes won all four sessions by large margins except the final one where they prevailed 4-3 as coach Tony Camilleri sent in some of his younger players to gain much needed experience. Niki Lanzon registered his third half dozen in a row thus demonstrating his superb vein of form while Jordan Camilleri helped himself to four goals for Neptunes. Marsascala’s top scorer was former San Giljan stalwart Claudio Spiteri Debarro with three goals.

Neptunes Emirates I Bugeja, N Lanzon (6), E Aquilina (2), M Stellini (2), Z Mizzi, K Debattista, J Camilleri (4), T Agius (1), B Buhagiar (2), S Gravina, G Pace (1), B Lanzon, M Pisani

Marsascala Solid Base S Farrugia, C Spiteri Debarro (3), D Caruana, K Navarro, K Galea, B Plumpton, J Licari, J Cremona, S Micallef, R Scerri (1), D Cassar (1), O Zammit, E Arrigo

Referees Peter Giordano, Mario Dalli