SAN ĠILJAN TUM INVEST               9

SLIEMA FRANK SALT                      8

(2-1), (1-1), (5-4), (1-2)

Champions San Ġiljan TUM Invest secured themselves a place in the play-offs semi-finals after defeating Sliema Frank Salt 9-8 in a nail-biting encounter that kept everyone on their feet till the final whistle. Sliema gave them a good run for their money and could have snatched a point.

On the other hand, this win brought out the character in San Ġiljan's team as they didn't play their best game, and for another time were without Dino Zammit, but somehow they managed to finish with three points to stretch their unbeaten run to 51 games. San Giljan are now eight points clear at the top, with a game in hand.

San Ġiljan won the first session as Matthew Zammit and Paul Fava scored, despite the equaliser by Jerome Gabarretta. San Ġiljan kept their goal advantage till the end of the second session as Sliema pulled one back from Christian Presciutti after Ben Plumpton made it 3-1.

In this session, Joseph Sammut was instrumental for his team as he saved numerous shots by his opponents and kept Sliema in the game, even when things seem to be heading against them.

Sliema were in search of quick goals to stay in the game and equalised twice from two great goals by Michael Spiteri Staines. Michael Cordina responded to Peter Borg's goal, but two goals from Matthew Zammit and Ben Plumpton assured the champions of starting the last session 8-6 in front.

Sliema equalised for the fifth time in this game with two goals in the early minutes of the last session from Nicholas Bugelli and Christian Presciutti. The tension escalated with both referees having a difficult job to control both sets of players and staff.

In the last minute, San Ġiljan coach Marko Orlovic called a time-out and from that attack, San Ġiljan scored the winning from a shot by Ben Plumpton. Sliema had the chance to equalise in their last attack, but San Ġiljan managed to scrape through.

San Ġiljan: J. Tanti, P. Borg (1), A. Galea, B. Grech, C. Farrugia, M. Zammit (2), B. Plumpton (3), Da. Zammit, T. Said, P. Obradovic (1), P. Fava (2), D. Ciantar, T. Micallef

Sliema: J. Sammut, J. Gabarretta (2), C. Presciutti (1), M. Mifsud, M. Meli, K. Dowling, M. Spiteri Staines (2), D. Fenech, M. Cordina (1), J. Gambin, Z. Mizzi, N. Bugelli (1), Z. Sciberras

Referees: Massimo Angileri, Andrea Zedda

 

FIRST DIVISION

BIRŻEBBUĠA FREEPORT             10
TA' XBIEX AMIGOS                       6
(2-1), (3-2), (2-2), (3-1)

Birżebbuġa: D. Abela, M. Borg, N. Cassar, D. Pace Lupi (1), S. Mora (2), J. Rizzo Naudi, S. Vassallo (1), D. Cutajar (2), S. Micallef (3), M. Cutajar, K. Rizzo Naudi (1), J. Zerafa Gregory, D. Spiteri

Ta' Xbiex: A. Theuma, R. Greco, M. Manara, L. Hyzler, B. Cachia, K. Mock, G. Blundell, N. Dedovic (3), L. Galea (1), G. Sammut, K. Tanti (1), N. Saliba (1)

Referees: Tommaso Boccia, Neville Mercieca