Valletta McDonalds     12      Sirens Ritter Sport     11

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

Valletta began their season with a win over the St Paul's Bay side. It was close for most of the match, but towards the end it was the Citizens who forged forward to establish a three-goal advantage, which stood them well, as a late spurt by Sirens brought them to just a goal behind. But time was against them, with only a few seconds left on the game clock.

The lead changed hands for a total of seven times throughout the encounter, before Valletta could made the decisive push forward, for the game winning points. They retained Serbain Djorde Filipovic from last season, and he finished up as the game's joint top scorer, with four strikes, and they also have Gergely Kiss, the Hungarian who played for Sliema a couple of seasons back, who finshed with thre goals, including a brace of penalties. Sirens' two foreigners were also on their books last season, with Italian Christian Presciutti on two goals, but Csaba Kiss still has to open his scoring account.

A tight start had both teams enjoying leads, but it was all square, at 4-4, till the interval. The two sides were still locked, at 7-7, at the start of the last session, with Valletta then opening up their advantage, to make sure, before Sirens came back with two late goals, for a closer finish.

Valletta failed in their opening man up, but converted the other two. Sirens were awarded nine fabourable expulsions, netting in four of them.

Anthony Farrugia and Bogdan Rath, are in charge of Valletta and Sirens, respectively, for this season.

Valletta: R. Sciortino, O. Zammit, M. Rizzo, K. Galea 1, A. Agius, R. Mock 2, G. Kiss 3, N. Bonello Ghio, M. Cordina 2, C. Zammit, D. Paolella, D. Filipovic 4, D. Camilleri

Sirens: N. Grixti, Z. Mizzi 1, C. Presciutti 2, G. Pace, M. Grech 1, C. Kiss, M. Baluci, D. Cutajar 2, J. Napier, E. Aquilina 4, L. Caruana 1, A. Sammut, I. Riolo

Referees: P. Balzan, M. Bianchi

 

BOV 1 Div. League

M'Scala start defence of league title with a victory

Otters Nivea     10      M'scala Nutrition Empire     16

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

Fresh from their Sports Journalists Cup win a couple of days ago, the reigning champions Marsascala began their defence of the title with a strong victory over a much changed Otters side from last season. The Gozitans managed a slim lead in the opening minutes of the match, but then had to chase their opponents for the rest of the encounter, as M'Scala opened up a heavy 8-2 lead till the half way mark. Otters were more evident in the match for the remainder of the game, as they shared ten goals in the third quarter and six more in the last period, but M'Scala were always comfortable in their good advantage  till the end of the match.

Otters have two Hungarians in their squad, with difficult names, Filip Kljajevic, who netted once, and Srdan Aksentijevic, who ended up as the side's best scorer with a poker of goals. Matyas Pastor confirmed his good start to the season, as he grabbed a nap hand of goals, and the other Hungarian Bela Torok opened his account for the season with four goals, before he was fouled out in the third session of play. Otters converted three of their eight man ups. M'Scala scored in their opening two occasions, but missed their other two man ups.

The Gozitans are once more under the guidance of coach, Alfred Cachia.

Otters: R. Bonnici, M. Borg Millo, M. Paris 1, L. Gialanze 1, F. Klajajevic 1, E. Meli 2, G. Mizzi 1, S. Dimech, N. Paris, D. Borg Millo, C. Martin, S. Aksentijevic 4, P. Theuma

M'Scala: K. Schembri, JC Cutajar 1. M. Pace 2, C. Bonello, B. Torok 4, L. Grixti, K. Navarro 1, F. Borg, S. Micallef 1, M. Pastor 5, D. Cassar 2, B. Muscat

Referees: P. Giordano, M. Cataldi