Exiles Ferretti     9   

Sliema Frank Salt     17

(1-5, 3-2, 0-5, 5-5)

The Blues did the double over bottom team, Exiles. A strong start had them out in front, but Exiles were better in the second session. Sliema made sure with a five goal run after the break, and after pulling further away in the last quarter, Exiles ended the game with a three goal run, but they were still at a distance from their opponents.

Sliema had regular goalie Ryan Coleiro missing, with David Abela taking his place in goal, and he did quite a good job of it. Exiles had coach, Frenchman, Aurelien Cousin, losing his cool in the Sliema run, after the break, and he was sent off. The Blues went in front early on with a brace from captain, John Soler, who had an inspired match.

Kayne Lanzon reduced the deficit, but Sliema added on three more goals till the end of the period, from foreigners, Damir Buric, with two, and Gergely Kiss. In the next session, Exiles came back into the match, with goals from Lanzon and David Pace Lupi, but Soler restored Sliema’s former ad- vantage, with two more strikes.

Alex Radovic got a goal back for Exiles, who were still 4-7 behind at the interval. Sliema were all over their adversaries after the break, with a five goal spread, without any reply from Ex- iles. Damir Buric, David Paolella, a Kiss penalty, Timmy Sullivan and Nikolai Lubrano completed the rout, as the Blues established a solid 12-4 lead. In the last period there were goals galore, with Sliema starting with another Kiss penalty throw, and Mark Meli. Exiles response had Peter Borg and Radovic with their goals.

Then it was Sliema once more, with a three goal burst, with two more and Soler, one from a penalty, and Gergely in between. Exiles closed down the game with a three goal spell of their own, from Julian Rizzo Naudi, Radovic and a Vojoslav Cupic penalty. Sliema converted fives times from eight man ups, and had Soler with half a dozen goals, Kiss with a poker and Buric with a hat trick. Exiles had nine favourable expulsions, scoring in six of them.

Radovic also completed his hat trick.

Exiles: I. Bugeja, J. Rizzo Naudi 1, S. Vassallo, D. Zammit Lupi 1, N. Portelli, A. Radovic 3, J. Spiteri Staines, V. Cupic 1, K. Grixti, P. Borg 1, S. Galea Pace , D. Borg , K. Lanzon Sliema: D. Abela, D. Buric 3, N. Lu- brano 1, T. Sullivan 1, M. Meli 1, J. Soler 6, G. Kiss 4, E. Aquilina , J. Brownrigg, J. Gabarretta, D. Paolella 1, M. Spiteri Staines , C. Cluett

Referees: M. Dalli, S. Scappini

Marsascala win after going 0-4 down

Marsaxlokk     6   

 Marsascala More 13 (2-0, 3-3, 2-5, 0-5)

Marsaxlokk started off with a bang, scoring four goals in a row, till mid- way through the second session, but Marsascala were only a goal behind at the interval, at 3-4. Marsaxlokk then couldn’t hold their opponents, as they went out in front till the end of the third period, with Marsaxlokk throwing in the towel in the last quarter, as Marsascala drove home another five goals, to make doubly sure of the result. John Licari made a welcome return for Marsascala, after his long injury, which cost him five matches, and he celebrated with a brace of strikes. The player missing for Marsascala was Karl Rizzo Naudi. This win puts Marsascala temporarily on a tie with Valletta, at the top of the standings, but with a game more. Marsascala scored twice from their five man ups, with M’xlokk slightly better, converting half of their six extra player in the water. 

Marsaxlokk: A. Xuereb, L. Frig- gieri, M. Agius, E. Meli, K. Grech, K. Mock 1, A. Galea, C. Bugeja, R. Ko- vacs 2, P. Kovacs 2, T. Camilleri, J. Fenech,  G. Zammit 1 Marsascala: K. Schembri, J. Licari 2, M. Pace, B. Muscat, J. Kayes 5, L. Grixti,  G. Hedegus 3, J. Cremona 1, G. Desira Buttigieg, A. Sammut,  D. Cassar 1, C. Mifsud , L. Caruana 1 Referees: M. Angileri, R. Spiteri