San Giljan TUM Invest 10
Sliema Frank Salt 8
(4-2), (2-1), (3-2), (1-3)
The first edition of the Enemed Trophy went to San Giljan today, as the saints overcame Sliema and notched their 33rd win in as many matches, a record in the local waterpolo sphere.
San Giljan won all 25 games in a super 2017 which had them win all competitions. They added another eight games in this new competition to reach 33 wins in a row. The previous 32-match unbeaten stretch record also belonged to San Giljan, a record they had reached in the 1994-95 season. That time, however, the record was made up of 29 wins and three draws. This time, all 33 games were victories for San Giljan.
Today, San Giljan opened a good lead in the first half of the game, and seemed comfortably heading towards victory. After the interval, Sliema attempted a comeback but the saints remained in full control.
San Giljan went four goals ahead with two goals from Matthew Zammit, Paul Fave and Ben Plumpton. Nicholas Bugeli and Jerome Gabarretta reduced the arrears for Sliema.
Paul Fava reached his hat-trick to give San Giljan a 6-2 lead before Dowling reduced the distance before the end of the second session.
Plumpton made the score 7-3 before Michael Spiteri Staines was sent off for brutality, leaving Sliema to play with a man less for four minutes. Plumpton and Dino Zammit widened the score for the saints but Sliema again scored twice to make it 9-5.
When Darren Zammit made the score 10-5 at the start of the last session, the match was all but over as the saints reduced the pace with Sliema scoring three times through Dowling, Meli and Bugelli to end the match 10-8.
San Ġiljan: J. Tanti, P. Borg, M. Borg, B. Grech, J. Galea, M. Zammit (2), B. Plumpton (3), C. Farrugia, T. Said, Da. Zammit (1), P. Fava (3), Di. Zammit (1), P. Fava, T. Micallef, A. Saliba, A. Abela
Sliema: J. Sammut, J. Gabarretta (2), D. Fenech, M. Carani, M. Meli (1), K. Dowling (3), M. Spieri Staines, J. Saliba, M. Cordina, Z. Galea Mule, Z. Mizzi, N. Bugelli (2), A. Theuma
Referees: Ronnie Spiteri, Massimo Angileri
Photo Net News
In other games, Sirens beat Neptunes 10-8 in the match for third place while Valletta had the better of Exiles in the match for fifth place with a 3-2 score.