Sirens Ritter Sport     10     Sliema Frank Salt     11          

(1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 2-4)

This encounter had a protracted ending, and finished up with hot protests from both teams, and this all happened with .01 of a second left on the game clock, and Sliema holding on, and leading 11-10.  At precisely that time of the game Sirens were awarded a man up, and immediately afterwards a second Sliema player was also sent off, and Sirens were awarded a penalty throw. The Sliema bench, and players in the water, all voiced their vociferous protests, and the Sliema coach. Vincze Balazs, was a shown a red card. The penalty, to be taken by Christian Presciutti, was delayed, when the officials repeatedly told the Sliema players to keep their distance from the Sirens penalty taker, and another Sliema player was sent off. When the officials were finally satisfied, and the throw was finally taken Presciutti lost control of the ball, which fell behind him, and the officials annulled the penalty throw. The game ended there, but the Sirens players alleged that there was contact in the taken penalty. The officials stuck to their decision, and this time it was the Sirens clan who went on the deck, to confront the officials, claiming that Presciutti was impeded in his penalty throw.

The game proved to be another close one, a repeat of the first encounter between these two sides, which ended in a narrow 12-11 victory for Sirens. This time This time it was Sliema who were in front for most of the match, and also enjoyed good advantages. Midway through, and after a missed penalty by the same Presciutti, saved by Ryan Coleiro, Sliema were 5-3 ahead. They extended their lead to 8-4, before being pulled back to a 9-6 score, going into the last quarter. Sliema seemed coasting to their win, before Sirens staged a comeback, and a three goal burst, with another penalty, this time converted by Csaba Kiss,  had them on level terms. Sliema regained their lead with a John Soler lob, and after both sides lost good occasions, came the final play of the match, and the confusion afterwards, which left Sliema taking all three points, to recover from their surprise drawn game against Exiles, leaving Sirens to suffer their third loss in a row, after their victory over the same Sliema.

The two Sirens foreigners, Presciutti and Kiss, along with Sliema’s Soler, all scored hat tricks.

Sirens: N. Grixti, Z. Mizzi 1, C. Presciutti 3, G. Pace 1, M. Grech , C. Kiss 3,M. Caruana , D. Cutajar , J. Napier , E. Aquilina 2, L. Caruana ,A. Sammut , M. Pisani

Sliema: R. Coleiro, J. Gabarretta2, N. Lubrano, T. Sullivan , M. Meli 1, J. Soler 3, J. Borg , C. Cluett 2, J. Brownrigg , A. Attard , I. Basara 1, A. Petkovic 2,K. Schembri

Referees: M. Angileri, F. Tempesta

BOV National league – Premier

San Giljan in a romp over Exiles

Exiles Ferretti     6     San Giljan Allcare     18        

(2-3, 0-4,1-6, 3-5)

After all the hullabaloo of the previous match, this was a tame affair, with the Saints completely in control, and Exiles a shadow of the side which had held Sliema, a few days before. San Giljan were returning from two consecutive defeats, by Neptunes, in two different competitions.

Exiles were in the match, in the opening session, when a missed penalty, by Gergely Katonas, saved by Dean Camilleri, had them trailing by the odd goal. But from then on they were overwhelmed by the Saints, who proceeded to run up a high score, with only a single reply from Exiles in the next two periods of play. At the interval San Giljan led 7-2, and extended the score to 13-3, going into the last session. There were more goals from the saints, but Exiles managed to reply in the late stages of the game.

San Giljan made good use of their man ups, netting six from eight, but Exiles failed their first six, before converting their last two.

Skipper, Matthew Zammit, scored a nap hand for the Saints, along with a poker each from their two imports, Alex Radovic and Zejlko Kovacic. Katonas netted a brace of goals for Exiles.

Exiles: I. Bugeja, J. Rizzo Naudi 1, S. Vassallo 1, D. Zammit Lupi , G. Katonas 2,

           S. Galea Pace ,  K. Grixti 1, L. Sekulic 1,  P. Borg , B. Lanzon , D. Borg , K. Lanzon

San Giljan: D. Camilleri, C. Spiteri de Barro , A. Galea 1, K. Galea , K. Dowling 1, M. Zammit 5, A. Radovic 4, A. Bianchi , K. Galea , Z. Kovacic 4,P. Fava 2, D. Zammit 1, J. Sammut

Referees: A. DeRaffaele, S. Scollo

Premier League Standings

Neptunes Grimaldi       6     5     1     0     89     59  16

San Giljan Allcare        6     4     0     2     73     50  12

Sliema Frank Salt         6     3     2     1     68     64  11

Sirens Ritter Sport        6     2     0     4     63    73     6

Valletta McDonalds     6     1     1     4     57    74     4

Exiles Ferretti               6     0     2     4     47    79     2