Rivals Sliema and Neptunes both returned to winning ways, after four and five matches respectively, in the penultimate round of games in the regular summer league. With one round to go, the tension is still sky high as all the teams are with a chance to win (with a decider or a set of deciders most likely) this year’s top honour.
However the main attraction and talk of the pool this weekend was definitely John Soler’s superb offensive display against Sirens. This player, who was being criticised in the last weeks for not being so decisive in front of goal as in the past years (although Soler has played a more team role this year helping his tea mates in all sectors and even creating space for them by diverting opponents onto himself), gave a magnificent reply to silence his critics as he steered his side with seven goals.
He was truly a seventh wonder for the reigning champions who were playing a sort of do-or-die match as only a win against in-form Sirens could keep them in the race in their quest to obtain a local record of five consecutive championship wins.
The Sliema-Sirens encounter was a real gem of a game. Sliema looked more like the championship winning side of these last four years in the initial two sessions led by Soler and even the return to form of Edward Aquilina (incidentally the league’s two top scorers now with 53 goals shared between them), although the Blues’ success was due to a collective effort from all ranks.
On the other hand, Sirens looked a tense lot at the start of the game and matters, psychologically speaking, only worsened when they missed a penalty after just three minutes of play when captain Valletta shot wide to the right. The St Paul’s Bay side had a great chance to move very close to winning their sixth ever championship as they came into this match leading the table, two points ahead of Sliema and M’Scala. A win against the Blues would have ended Sliema’s (who had veteran powerhouse John Paris missing due to illness) title hopes.
The other match was between Neptunes and Marsascala. The latter, fresh from a second success over Sliema, had a big chance to join leaders Sliema and Sirens at the top of the standings. On the other hand Neptunes knew that only a win could keep them with a slight, but possible, chance to win the league.
After five weeks without a win, Neptunes finally gave a fine display to thwart off M’Scala’s efforts and win with a four goal margin, 11-7, their first over M’Scala this year after that the greens had managed to win three points over the Balluta side.
The reds looked concentrated and took the opportunities that came their way and in the end meritedly deserved the win as M’Scala did not produce theis customary defensive-based match.
As things stand now, when there are only two games left to play, all teams are with a chance.
The only possibility for both Marsascala (they have a single championship won in 1997) and Neptunes is a four team decider and they both need each other’s help. In fact both sides have to win against Sirens and Sliema respectively and thus join the same two teams at 17 points in the table.
The first game is on Friday when Sirens (five times champions) meet southerners M’Scala. Sirens have won twice this year against the greens and another success would guarantee them surely of a decider although they might even then win the league if Sliema (29 times champions) miss a point in the following day.
In the eventuality of a M’Scala win, the following day’s intense derby between Sliema and Neptunes would take enormous importance (not that such a game is never important because even if Neptunes have no chance for the league (if Sirens win), they will surely do their utmost to ruin Sliema’s hopes of a record as after all they presently share the record of four consecutive championships (1986-89) with Sliema (2001-2004)).
In this scenario a Neptunes win would force a four-team decider while a Sliema win or draw would lead to a Sliema fifth consecutive league. The Blues could also win the league with a win if M’Scala and Sirens draw in their match whilst another draw in the eternal Sliema derby would then lead to a Sirens-Sliema decider.
All in all, a real nail-biting finish to the league, the 71st in local history.
Division Two
In the second division, everything is set for next Saturday’s showdown between joint leaders San Giljan and Exiles. These two sides registered another two respective wins in the weekend and whoever wins this week’s game will notch the league. One has to point out that both teams drew their only match against each other this season.
Valletta are sure that they will finish this year’s campaign in the third place. Overall the citizens deserve this placing as they showed quite some progress under the stewardship of Anthony Farrugia.