Neptunes Emirates    20  

Sirens Ritter Sport     6    

(6-2, 4-2, 6-1, 4-1)

Neptunes made short shrift of their opponents, as they dominated all four sessions of play. They included young Sean Xerri de Caro in their line up, but Sean Gravina sat out the whole encounter. Sirens put in Joe Cremona in goal, in lieu of Alan Grech, and Alex Attard returned to the side, after missing a couple of matches.

Neptunes already had a handsome victory over Sirens in the first round of play, and they im- proved on the score in this game. The champions raced into a 4-0 ad- vantage, with Niki Lanzon, Tamas Molnar, Steve Camilleri and Michele Stellini goals. David Cutajar twice pulled Sirens back, but Neptunes added on more gaols, from Lanzon and Molnar.

In the next session it was Arpad Babay to open the score for Sirens, with Neptunes’ response coming from the Camilleri brothers, Jordan, and two from Steve. Csaba Kiss put his name down on the Sirens goalscorers list, with Lanzon netting for the champions, as they led 10-4 at the interval. After the break Neptunes’ dominance was more pronounced. They had Lanzon, a brace from from Steve Camilleri, and Alex Ciric and Clint Mercieca finding the net at regular in- tervals, before babay scored again for Sirens. Molnar made it 16-5 till the end of the session. In the last quarter Molnar and Lanzon were still scoring, with Kiss getting his second for Sirens. Steve Camilleri and Stellini completed the champions’ scoring till the final buzzer. Neptunes hit in five goals from seven man ups, and had Steve Camilleri with a double hat trick, Lanzon with a nap hand and Molnar with a poker of goals. Sirens failed in all three of their favourable expulsions, with Babay, Kiss and Cutajar all scoring twice.

Neptunes: A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon 5, A. Sammut, M. Stellini 2, T. Agius, A. Ciric 1, S. Camilleri 6, J. Camilleri 1, G. Pace, S. Gravina, S. Xerri de Caro, T. Molnar 4, C. Mercieca 1 Sirens: J. Cremona, Z. Mizzi , M. Grech, J. Napier, A. Babay 2, C. Kiss 2, J. Borg , D. Cutajar 2, A. Zarb Cousin, A. Attard , S. Micallef, J. Zampa, A. Grech       Referees: M. Angileri, S. Scappini

Valletta make sure after the interval

Valletta United     11     Otters Nivea     3 (1-1, 1-0, 4-0, 5-2)

It was a strange match at first, with reminisces of scores in years gone by, till the interval. Then the Citizens took over, waltzed away from their opponents, and obtained a comfort- able victory, which had them alone once more at the top of the standings. The Gozitans, who had Karl Sci- cluna missing, held out till halfway through the match, and were the first to score, but were a goal down by the interval, on a 1-2 score. After the break it was a different game, with Valletta in command, as they put in four goals without any

reply, and they followed this up in the last period, with five more goals, as Otters at last found space to net two goals of their own, but Valletta were not duly worried, as their lead was a safe one till the end of the match. Man up wise, it was a barren day, as Valletta scored once from five occasions, and the Gozitans missed all six of their man ups. Michael Cordina managed to net a trick for Valletta.  Valletta: R. Sciortino, S. Meli,  R. Calleja 1, M. Korolija 2, N. Bonello Ghio,  S. Cachia, M. Cordina 3, C. Za- mmit 2, C. Debono, R. Scerri 1, A. Ar- rigo, D. Filipov 2, J. Farrugia Otters: N. Grixti, G. Attard, G. Za- mmit 1, A. Borg, G. Tabone, A. Cachia, D. Schembri , A. Edward , S. Dimech 1, C. Martin, I. Vuksanovic 1, K. Grima Scott Referees: A. De Raffaele, M. Angi- leri