After the second round of play, the top four teams in Divsionn 1 will contest the semi-finals of the championship play-offs according to the final standings.

Leaders Neptunes Emirates will meet fourth placed Sirens Ritter Sport in this evening’s second match at Tal-Qroqq National Pool and also tomorrow. Neptuines should start as favourites to reach the final. The semi-final play-offs are on a best out of three games.

Neptune’s Russiam coach Serghey Markoch said the he has a sound squad, with a very healthy average of goals per match. Although they had won all their matches, it will all start anew now. When he was reminded that Neptunes were beaten by Sliema in the Winter league, he reiterated that he had only arrived in Malta the day before, and Sliema had played with a foreign player, contrary to seasons before. Notwithstanding all the victories gained, Markoch said that he respects all opponents.

Second placed Sliema McDonalds will be also facing third team San Giljan Giuseppe’s twice over the weekend - tomorrow and on Sunday.

Sliema’s coach Sergio Afric admitted that in all the years that he has been on the island, he had never had problems like this season, with a number of players missing in every encounter. He stressed that if other teams had the same problem, they also would have struggled like Sliema did. Jerome Gabarretta will be returning, but John Brownrigg will still be absent for the remainder of the games. Ryan Coleiro will be back, between the posts, and the inclusion of young Victor Bendes was only a present for the sterling work he had done in the junior strings.

Karl Izzo, coach of San Giljan, mentioned that he did not think that his side would qualify for the semi-finals so early on in the season. The last three defeats were a huge disappointment for him. Although San Giljan had already beaten Sliema, he acknowledges that the Blues will start as favourites. He expects a little more support for his side in the coming matches, but knows that most of the supporters remember the glory days of the nineties, and maybe they expect something better from the present team.

Marsscala meat.com.mt and Valletta Dhalia will contest the play-offs for Division 2 championship on best out of three games, also starting this evening and meeting again on Sunday.

During a press brief, ASA president Joe Caruana Curran yesterday said that at the end of this innovative season, which he termed a success, a study will be made to see the positive aspects, and what could be improved upon this sports discipline. He stressed that the format of play has to have the approval of all the teams concerned, and he feels that there will be an increase in the number of teams taking part next season, and the systems used will be easier to implement.