Sirens 2X 11

San Giljan Zara 6

(3-0, 2-3, 4-2, 2-1)

Sirens returned to winning ways after their defeat against Neptunes when they had the better of San Giljan comfortably.

The St. Paul's Bay side had Tamas Marcz returning to the water (he was introduced midway in the second session) although Neil Cassar had to abandon the match injured slightly earlier.

Just like against Neptunes, Sirens registered an early 3-0 lead. In fact the first session ended 3-0 with goals from Clint Mercieca and Jonathan Valletta. These two players, together with Karl Montfort, scored respective hat-tricks in this match.

The Saints, who were finding their opponents' zone cover difficult to penetrate, managed to open the match when they managed to draw level at 3-3. Marko Cuk opened the score for San Giljan with a powerful shot after 10 minutes of play. Two minutes later, the same player registered his brace when he converted a penalty shot after a Cutajar foul on Spiteri de Barro.

After missing a man-up (the Saints missed all their three man-ups while Sirens, who had John Farrugia returning as coach after a game's suspension, scored one of their three man-ups), San Giljan equalised when Matthew Zammit scored after a Lanzon assist.

However Sirens quickly replied and broke their momentary goal drought after eight minutes when they scored two consecutive goals in the last 100 seconds before the change of ends through Valletta and Montfort.

The reigning champions ascertained their victory midway in the last session when they increased their lead to five goals with the Saints missing two consecutive man-ups.

The last four minutes were a formality with San Giljan returning to scoring ways after over eight minutes through Clyde Bonello and then it was Paul Privitera, who had won the three man-ups earlier in the game, who finally managed to score a goal on a 3 v 2 break just a second from the final buzzer.

Sirens: J. Caruana Dingli, T. Debono, N. Cassar, P. Privitera 1, C. Zammit, J. Valletta 3, J. Borg 1, D. Cutajar, K. Montfort 3, T. Marcz, C. Mercieca 3, R. Attard, A. Grech.

San Giljan: D. Camilleri, C. Spiteri de Barro, A. Galea, C. Bonello 1, I. Azzopardi, M. Zammit 2, M. Cuk 2, K. Schembri, G. Ghirxi, A. Borda, S. Borg, J. Xerri de Caro 1, K. Lanzon.

Refs: R. Di Meo, M. Angileri