Neptunes V 26

Otters ASC 2

(2-0, 8-1, 9-0, 7-1)

Neptunes ended their fourth summer outing with an easy win over Gozitan side Otters, with the winning margin being the biggest so far this season, similar to Sliema’s win over Ta’ Xbiex.

Otters paraded their new foreign import, the young Hungarian Tibor Simon and managed to keep the score low in the first session at 0-2 but then had to succumb to the reds’ scoring machine who netted almost at will in the last 24 minutes at more than a goal per minute.

Captain Niki Lanzon and left-handed Michele Stellini scored in the initial session in the first and fourth minute respectively.

Matthew Pisani literally exploded in the second session when he scored a poker of goals in less than four minutes to help his side to a 7-0 lead.

George Zammit managed to beat Gouder so open the Gozitans’ game tally but before the change of ends, the champions added a further three goals, a brace by Ivan Milakovic and Pisani’s fifth on the day, all his goals coming with equal players in the water.

The third session was again totally dominated by Neptunes as they scored nine goals in a row. Stand-in coach Karl Izzo gave his benchers a lot of playing time with Luke Attard and Giorgio Sammut scoring a respective hat-trick. Centre-man Karl Galea was missing for the winners but his absence did not make much difference.

The final session continued in the same trend with Steve Camilleri just pipping team-mate Pisani for the top game scorer with a double hat-trick whilst Milakovic netted his third.

With the score 24-1 and two minutes from the end, Tibor Simon scored his first in the islands with a fine shot on a Gravina exclusion.

Neptunes: N. Gouder, N. Lanzon 2, J. Camilleri 1, G. Sammut 3, J. Brownrigg 2, I. Milakovic 3, S. Camilleri 6, L. Attard 3, D. Camilleri, S. Gravina, R. Sciortino, M. Stellini 1, M. Pisani 5.

Otters: E. Farrugia, F. Bajada, G. Zammit 1, S. Grech, S. Cutajar, D. Saliba, P. Saliba, K. Mizzi, C. Martin, K. Scicluna, T. Simon 1, S. Xerri, C. Saliba.

Refs: R. Spiteri, P. Giordano

Sirens HRC 17

Marsaxlokk FP 3

(4-1, 3-1, 5-1, 5-0)

St. Paul’s Bay based side, Sirens, continued the trend of wins by first division sides over teams from the second division by eating southerners Marsaxlokk in yesterday’s second match in the programme.

There was no doubt as to where the victory was going although Marsaxlokk deployed as much as possible a possession game and did not give such a poor performance.

The first session was a long affair as play was stopped halfway through the session for a malfunctioning game clock. The officials then resorted to manual timing for the remainder of the match.

Promising Glen Ghirxi put M’Xlokk in the lead in the third minute when he beat Grech from a somewhat tight angle from the left.

However Pierre Borg’s side quickly took the upper hand when Karl Montfort equliased shortly afterwards and then Jurgen Borg put them ahead.

Before the session’s end, captain’s Paul Privitera centre goal and Montfort’s second made the score 4-1.

The second session started with a beautiful goal by Belorussian Sergey Frolov for Marsaxlokk.

Charles Zammit scored Sirens’ first in the session with a low shot to the left corner and then it was Julian Rizzo Naudi and Montfort who increased the lead to 7-2 halfway into the match.

Frolov scored another scorcher late in the third session with a 9 metre diagonal low bombshell from the left.

This was, however, the southerner’s only goal in the session whilst Sirens scored five with braces by Hungarian Zsolt Varga and lefty Jurgen Borg whilst Clint Mercieca had a break-away goal.

Another five goal tally (similar to the third session) by Sirens in the last 8 minutes increased their total to seventeen. In this final session, Varga registered his hat-trick whilst Zammit, Privitera and J. Rizzo Naudi got their braces. Young Edward Bonello scored Sirens’ 16th, in the last minute of the game.

Sirens: A. Grech, R. Mock, K. Rizzo Naudi, P. Privitera 2, J. Rizzo Naudi 2, R. Xerri, J. Borg 3, E. Bonello 1, K. Montfort 3, C. Zammit 2, C. Mercieca 1, Z. Varga 3, J. Sammut.

M’Xlokk: R. Bonnici, G. Attard, R. Calleja, A. Farrugia, K. Farrugia, C. Bugeja, E. Pisani, D. Schembri, S. Frolov 2, K. Grima Scott, G. Ghirxi 1, G. Zammit, A. Sammut.

Refs: A. Deraffaele, M. Caruana.