Ramis claim well deserved league title; Fina in second place; HSBC, The Clan fail to avoid drop in Relegation Pool
For the first time ever, Middlesea Valletta Life Division I was run over three rounds for the latest season, an extra round being added on to the end of the regular season. After 18 weeks in rounds one and two, the division was split into a Championship Pool for the top four teams; Ramis, Globalair, okmalta.com and Fina, and a Relegation pool made up of Royal Shock, PharmaVet, Turu’s Knights, Gladiators, HSBC and the Clan. One more round was played in each pool to decide the final league standings.
Ramis had held on to the Division I lead for the best part of the regular season, and headed into round three six points ahead of Globalair (110-104), who in turn were six ahead of okmalta.com (98), with Fina bringing up the rear on 96. Those accumulated points would be carried forward for the championship fixtures and in spite of the fourteen point discrepancy between first and fourth, the title could have gone to any of the contenders as things developed.
The initial fixtures saw Ramis take on Fina, while Globalair faced okmalta.com on the adjacent lanes. Ramis grabbed the early points by taking the opener 780-755, but Fina came right back to equalise with a good 813-850 game two win meaning the match was anybody’s as the deciding third got underway.
That also fell to Fina with a 786-824 score line, meaning a 2-6 match win for Fina. In the mean time okmalta.com registered a very useful 0-8 victory over stable mates Globalair, although the match was not the thrashing the final score suggests with Globalair being unlucky to take anything away from it, as the game progressed; 704-738, 772-790, 709-741.
Two more fixtures to go meant a maximum of 16 points were still up for grabs, and with all four teams lying within a 10-point range, the league title was still within reach of any one of them. Ramis made sure of their long anticipated title in their second match however, taking all eight from okmalta.com to put them twelve ahead of second place, which was held by Fina thanks to their 6-2 victory over Globalair.
The high scoring encounters seen during the second qualifying round weren’t evident on the different lane condition adopted for round three, and the Ramis title clincher was again quite a close run affair: 746-755, 682-717, 684-730. Neither was it the case of an easy win for Fina, as they went 4-0 up on Globalair with tight wins of 693-684 and 752-731. Globalair took the third 765-783 for a two point consolation.
The final week was all about who would take second place, and that honour went to Fina, as they picked up yet another majority win against okmalta.com, while Ramis merely reinforced their lead by picking up another full point victory against Globalair.
Final Standings – Div. I (Week 21)
Ramis-128, Fina-114, okmalta.com-108, Globalair-106
While there was some jostling for position during the five fixtures played in the six team Relegation Pool, it served only to confirm relegation to Division II for both HSBC and The Clan, both of whom were rooted to the foot of the table going into round three.
Final Standings – Division I, Relegation Pool (Week 23)
Turu’s Nights-90, Royal Shock-86, PharmaVet-72, Gladiators-66, The Clan-62, HSBC-56.
Final Standings – Division II (Week 18)
Middlesea-100, Salitos-98, Spare Me Plz-86, Malta Int. Airport-82, Supreme-80, Blitzkrieg-78, J. Grima & Co-72, Bank of Valletta-58, 4 Play-34, Atlas Insurance-30
Final Standings – Division III (Week 14)
Vintage-88, One 4 All-86, Touch of Class-66, XS-64, Swingers-52, Kiwis-42, BOV-32, Scuderia-18