BOV National League – Premier   Sirens start Relegation Pool with good lead   Sirens Ritter Sport     11     Valletta McDonalds     8   (2-1, 5-4, 1-1, 3-2)

Sirens made sure of starting the Relegation Pool on a top note with a good victory over the Citizens, to compensate for the defeat they suffered against Valletta earlier on in the season. They had John Farrugia in charge once more, with Bogdan Rath again suspended. Valletta were without Clint Debono, with Jean Carl Farrugia in lieu.

A double for Sirens, in the opening period was cut down by Valletta. In the second session Sirens had another double advantage, but Valletta were soon level, only for Sirens ‘ Zak Mizzi to give a further two goal leadThe Citizens twice reduced their deficit, the secobd time seconds from half time, but David Cutajar had Sirens 7-5 in front. Just before the interval Balletta’s goalie, Ryan Sciortino was red carded, and David Abela took his place for the next two sessions.

The third period was a quiet one, with both sides scoring a single goal each, and Sirens could go into the last quaret on an 8-6 advanatge. A Christian Presciutti penalty and a csaba Kiss strike had Sirens on a comfortable lead. Valletta’s mentor, Anthony Farrugia, and player, Michael rizzo, were also shown the red card. Thre remaining time saw Valletta obtaining a moré decent score, but Sirens were already sure of the result.

Presciutti and Kiss both scored hat tricks for Sirens, as did Milos Korolija for the Citizens.

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

Valletta: R. Sciortino, R. Mock 1, M. Spiteri Staines , M. Korolija 3, N. Bonello Ghio, S. Cachia , D. Paolella 1, D. Abela , JC Farrugia , C. Zammit 1, M. Cordina ,D. Filipovic 1, M. Rizzo 1

Referees:  R. Spiteri, A. Marangiu

 

Champions show their class after the interval   San Giljan Allcare     10     Neptunes Grimaldi     17   (3-4, 4-4, 1-5, 2-4)

It was all systems go for the champions. As they ended the Premier league with a bang, sweeping aside San Giljan, begin their Championship league venture with a sound five point lead over their fierce rivals, Sliema Frank Salt. The Saints will be six points further down from Sliema. Neptunes’ tamas molnar returned in stle, after his two week suspension, as he quickly got in among the scorers. The Saints had Karl Galea missing, with Ben Plumpton taking his place.

San Giljan got off to a bright start, and a double advantage, but this was wiped out with a three goal spurt by the champions. The Saints were level but Neotunes started teh second session on an odd goal lead. San Giljan overturned the score, and when Peter Biros saw his penalty throw saved by Dean Camilleri, in the Saints’ goal, San Giljan went into another double advantage. This did not last long, as Neptunes turned up the throttle. They were levbel, and although Andrea Bianchi gave the Saints another lead, Neptunes managed to go in a t the interval with a single goal advantage, at 8-7.

After the break there was only one team, as the champions had Biros as the protagonist, scoring three goals, obtaining man ups, and also missing an open goal, but Neptunes were in full command, as they eased away from their opponents, and could look at the last quarter with confidence, having a winning lead, at 13-8. They were still pouring in the goals, three more, with San Giljan then making a sort of recovery, driving in two goals, but this made no difference, with Steve Camilleri closing down the match with his final, fifth, goal. Molnar had already bagged a poker of his own, and Biros scored a hat trick, all for the champions. San Giljan had Alex Radovic with a total of four goals.

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

Neptunes: A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon 1, M. Lanzon , M. Stellini 2, T. Agius , G. Mizzi , S. Camilleri 5, J. Camilleri 2, A. Zarb Cousin , P. Biros 3, B. Dougall , T. Molnar 4, C. Mercieca

Referees: P. Balzan, S. Alfi

Premier League Standings

 

   Neptunes Grimaldi     10     8     2     0   134     99   26

   Sliema Frank Salt       10     6     3     1   113   100   21   

   San Giljan Allcare      10     5     0     5   117     99   15

   Sirens Ritter Sport      10     4     1     5   109   116   13

   Valletta McDonalds   10     2     1     7     96   120     7

   Exiles Ferretti             10     0     3     7     82   129     3

 

At long last ta Xbiex obtained their first league win of the season, handing the Gozitans their third loss in a row, with these two sides meeting again next week, in a postponed league match, get all the teams on an even number of games. This victory gives hope to ta Xbiex, in evading the bottom rung of the league ladder, as they now go four points adrift of the same Otters, who remain in third place, though with a game less than M’xlokk, a point above them. Ta Xbiex had Tommy zammit back in the water, in p0lace of Kurt Mock, and Otters were missing Karl Scicluna, with Andre Azzopardi taking his place. This game saw the return of Massimo Angileri, being one of the line judges.

A lone goal was scored in teh opening session, as Kyle Debattista put Ta Xbiex in front. In the next period Otters overturned the score, but Ta Xbiex again went in front. The Gozitans had Andrei Edward to obtain a drawn score at the interval, at 3-3.

After the break Ta Xbiex went two goals ahead, twice, but Otters fought back, to go on level terms, seconds from the end of the session, only for Milos Maksimovic to surprise Jurgen Micallef, in the Otters goal, from mid-pitch, and take Ta Xbiex 7-6 in front, in the last session. Ta Xbiex then made sure with a further two strikes, as they controlled the rest of the encounter. Otters only managed another goal, from Cgristoph Martin, but Ta Xbiex had a two goal cushion to rest on, and take their first three points.

They had Maksimovic with three goals. Otters’ seven goals were scored by seven different players.

  Ta Xbiex: L. Borg, L. Pace , M. Camilleri , S. Aquilina , M. Agius , T. Zammit , S. Gravina , K. Debattista 1, E. Gravina , M. Maksimovic 3, R. Attard 1,  O. Zammit 2, P. Markoch 1 Otters: J. Micallef, G. Attard , G. Zammit , A. Azzopardi , R. Bonnici , A. Borg , J. Paris 1, D. Schembri , A. Edward 1, S. Dimech 1, C. Martin 1, I. Vuksanovic 1, K. Grima Scott 1 Referees: S. Licari, S. Alfi   Standings 1 Div. League  M’scala Mor€              8     5     3     0     93     80   18  M’xlokk Fischer          8     3     2     3     80     79   11   Otters Nivea                7     2     2     3     71     75     8  Ta Xbiex Amigos        7     1     1     5     64     74     4