Sliema mentor Edward Aquilina was in the seventh heaven yesterday morning, the day after Sliema made sure of a third consecutive title under his charge.

For Aquilina, it was the fifth title in five years of coaching at the top level. “I had already won two titles when I was at Valletta, now I have won three at Sliema and that makes me feel quite satisfied. I really enjoy working with this group where we have a tremendous atmosphere. There are no pressures and, together with team manager Hugh Caruana, we form an excellent combination,” he said.

Aquilina, who made it clear that he does not intend to quit, said he was sure that he and Caruana would continue to bring more success to Sliema in future. “We have our own projects for the future and we will have to work on them soon. As to the strengthening of the team, one man sure to join us next season will be Italian Mauro Di Lello, the former Pieta Hotspurs defender, who will be replacing veteran Kris Laferla. As to Massimo Grima, who is on loan with Valletta, it was he who decided to leave Sliema 18 months ago. Then he closed the Sliema doors for himself. And we still have to settle the Mattocks affair with Floriana,” he added.

Aquilina said the Blues deserved to win the title. “We were the most consistent side and the most effective team. We have been continuous leaders and considering we were so unfortunate with injuries –we had to play without Doncic and Brincat in most of our crucial matches – it is saying a lot. We have never managed to play with our full team and still we were very successful,” he said.

Aquilina also said that he is not in favour of the present League format. “It is unfair for the front runners to be penalised by the deduction of points midway through the competition. It makes no sense at all. And I believe it is the only league in the whole of Europe, if not the world, which adopts this system. I would be more in favour of having a 10-team league with no Championship and Relegation Pools, and perhaps three teams being relegated to make it more interesting. If you have just eight teams, you will make all games competitive, but on the other hand, why penalise teams like St Patrick who, despite being relegated, gave a really good account of themselves and played some very good matches?” he said.

Finally, Aquilina also said that Sliema were now looking forward already for another double in the Trophy which would make his stay at Sliema even more memorable as it will be another successive double, following that of last season. “We want to finish the season on a good note,” he said.