San Giljan Allcare 11 Neptunes Grimaldi 17
(2-3, 3-3, 4-7, 2-4)
Neptunes registered their fourth victory in as many games over San Giljan, and now are poised to win their fifth successive league title. They were given quite a hard time by the Saints, irrispective of the final score in the match. San Giljan were still in with a shout at the start of the last quarter, but they missed two man ups in a row, and paid the price, as the champions eased away, to extend their advantage.
San Giljan were under the guidance of Aleksander Nikolic, after the resignation of Sergio Afric, and had two players missing, Karl Galea and Andrea Bianchi, with youngsters, Ben Plumpton and Darren Zammit taking their place.
San Giljan were ahead twice in the opening session, but it was Neptunes in front at the end of the session, at 3-2. The champions extended their lead to a four goal lead, before San Giljan recovered admirably, to go within a goal at the end of the period, for a slim 6-5 advantage to neptunes, at the interval.
After the break the Saints were level, after a Plumpton strike from an angle, but Neptunes were ahead once more, and despite the Saints whittling down their deficit three times, the champions managed to go minto the last sesison on a good 13-9 lead.
Kai Dowling reduced the arrears again for the Saints, but then came the missed man ups, and Neptunes opened up a winning margin. In the last seconds goalie, Dean Camilleri, who had an excellent match, in the San Giljan goal, blotted his copybook, when he was sent off, giving away a penalty, duly converted by Timmy Agius,
As usual Neptunes relied on their trio of scorers, with the two foreigners, Peter Biros and Tamas Molnar netting six goals each, and Steve Camilleri getting a brace.
San Giljan had Alex radovic with a nap hand of goals, including three penalties.
San Giljan:D. Camilleri, C. Spiteri de Barro , A. Galea , B. Plumpton1, K. Dowling 1,M. Zammit 2, A. Radovic5 , D. Zammit , K. Galea , Z. Kovacic 2,P. Fava , D. Zammit , J. Sammut
Neptunes: A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon1 , G. Mizzi , M. Stellini 1, T. Agius1 ,M. Zammit , S. Camilleri 2, J. Camilleri , A. Zarb Cousin , P. Biros 6,B. Dougall , T. Molnar6 , C. Mercieca
Referees: M. Dalli, G. Sorgente
Championship Pool Standings
Neptunes Grimaldi 11 9 2 0 161 108 29
Sliema Frank Salt 10 6 3 1 113 100 21
San Giljan Allcare 11 5 0 6 128 116 15
BOV 1 Div. League
Otters inflict first defeat on M'scala
M'scala Mor€ 9 Otters Nivea 10
(3-1, 3-4, 2-3, 1-2)
Just two days after M'scala had beaten Otters, in the BOV K.O. final, the two teams met again in a league match, but this time Otters managed to turn the tables, and handed M'scala their first league defeat, keeping alive their hopes, along with M'xlokk, as these two teams are now four points behind the leaders. It was Otters' first win over m'scala in four matches.
M#scala started well with a 3-0 advantage, with Otters getting a goal back. In the second session M'scala increased their lead with two more goals, but the Gozitans rallied back, to score four times, with a single reply from M'scala. At the interval Otters were only a goal behind, at 5-6.
After teh break Otters managed to draw level twice, and went into the last quarter on an even 8-8 score. M'scala man aged to erase Otters' first lead, but Steve Dimech put in the winning goal for the Gozitans, to avenge their K.O. loss.
Duncan Schembri and Ivan Vuksanovic scored hat tricks for Otters, and Liam Grixti did likewise for M'scala.
M’scala: D. Spiteri, JC Cutajar 2, S. Mora1 , C. Bonello1 , E. Meli1 , L. Grixti 3,M. Pace , J. Cremona , S. Micallef ,K. Rizzo Naudi , D. Cassar1 , G. Marnitz , J. Cremona
Otters: J. Micallef, G. Attard , G. Zammit , A. Azzopardi , R. Bonnici , A. Borg ,D. Schembri3 , A. Edward 2 , S. Dimech1 , C. Martin ,I. Vuksanovic 3 , K. Grima Scott 1
Referees:R. Spiteri, F. Riccioli
1 Div. League Standings
M’scala Mor€ 9 5 3 1 102 90 18
Otters Nivea 9 4 2 3 96 94 14
M’xlokk Fischer 9 4 2 3 93 87 14
Ta Xbiex Amigos 9 1 1 7 82 102 4