Neptunes Grimaldi      7      San Giljan Crystal Finance      8

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

Neptunes suffered their second defeat in four days, after their President's Cup loss. Once more they did the early running, this time going on a double advantage till the interval, when their defence managed to shut out their adversaries, who also failed in their first four man ups.

After the break it was a different affair. The Saints were more incisive, and the champions were with their backs to the wall. San Giljan's two foreigners, the Serbian, Boris Vapenski, and the Spaniard, Guillermo Molina, were in the thick of the action, as the Saints overturned the adverse score, and forged in front.

The last session had Neptunes falling further behind, with San Giljan making sure some time before the end of the match, even though Neptunes made a commendable efoort to save the match. They crawled back to just a goal behind, but time was against them, with only seconds left on the time clock.

The Camilleri brothers, Steve and Jordan, along with Michele Stellini, all scored twice for the champions. The Saints also had Vapenski, Molina and Aurelien Cousin, now playing as a local, with a double strike. It was interesting to see that both Neptunes' foreigners, Croatian, Ivan Krapic, and Hungarian, Peter Biros, failed to score.

Neptunes converted four times from their nine man ups. The Saints, after their first four failures, went on to score just twice from a total of seven extra player occasions. It will surely rankle Neptunes, to lose two games in a row, and at the start of the Summer league, after their Winter league success, where they managed to pip the same San Giljan to the title.

Neptunes: A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon 1, J. Abela, M. Stellini 2, T. Agius , I. Krapic , S. Camilleri2 , J. Camilleri 2, M. Castillo, P. Biros , B. Lanzon, S. Xerri de Caro, C. Mercieca

San Giljan: J. Sammut, P. Borg, A. Galea, B. Vapenski 2, G. Molina 2, M. Zammit 1, K. Galea, Da. Zammit, B. Plumpton, A. Cousin 2, P. Fava,  Di. Zammit 1, D. Spiteri

Referees: M. Angileri, M. Bianchi

 

Sliema amble through to opening league win

Sliema Frank Salt      13      Exiles Ferretti      6

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

Sliema followed on to their President's Cup success, when they swept aside Exiles' challenge, to open up their league account with a victory. Despite the score both sets of goalkeepers had a very positive match, and prevented their respective opponents from totting up a higher score. The match had a quiet start, but then Sliema set the pace with a brace of goals. Till the interval it was still a low score game, with Exiles still chasing their opponents, as Sliema were leading on a 4-1 score. The match livened up somewhat after the break, with Sliema finding more open spaces to open up their advantage further. The last session saw the floodgates open for more goals, with Exiles replying well to Sliema's dominance, although the Sliema were cantering through to their win. Michael Bodegas had a quiet match, but Nikola Dedovic grabbed a poker goals, including two penalty throws, and skipper, John Soler, netted a hat trick.

Exiles' two foreigners were not new faces, with Frenchman, Romain Blary, scoring a brace of goals,and Marco Cuk, the Hungarian, netted a late penalty. Simon Vassallo also grabbed a couple of goals in the last quarter. As in last season, the Italian, Maurizio, Mirarchi, is guiding the Exiles' outfit.

Sliena failed to net in their first three man ups, and finished with four goals in nine attempts. Exiles had five man ups in their favour, scoring in two of them.

Sliema: R. Coleiro, J. Gabarretta  , K. Dowling , T. Sullivan, M. Meli , J. Soler 3, M. Spiteri Staines , C. Cluett, N. Bugelli 1, M. Bodegas , A. Attard 2, N. Dedovic4 , Z Sciberras

Exiles: I. Bugeja, L. Peric, S. Vassallo 2, D. Pace Lupi, R. Blary 2, J. Spiteri Staines 1, S. Gravina, K. Grixti, D. Abela, A. Bianchi, A. Bianchi, M. Cuk 1, P. Paris, K. Lanzon

Referees: P. Balzan, M. Cataldi

 

BOV 1 Div. League

Ta Xbiex shock Seasiders, to clinch victory

Ta Xbiex Amigos     14      M'xlokk Fischer     12

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

Ta Xbiex kick started their league campaign with a surprising victory over M'xlokk, who had won their Winter league category, but then were beaten in the Sports Journalists Cup, by M'Scala. Ta Xbiex started well enough, to go in front, but M'Xlokk seemed to have recovered in the second session, to lead 6-4 at the interval. Ta Xbiex were then the better side after the break, as they brushed past their opponents, to go into an advantage, at 9-8. They increased their lead in the last session, although M'Xlokk twice came back, to a goal behind. Ta Xbiex held fast till the end, to deserve their victory, as their two foreigners were their main strike force. Hungarians, Adam Maclary, with a double hat trick, and Mark Kallay, who was with Sliema for a brief spell, four seasons ago, scored five times.

M'Xlokk missed their goalscorer, Claudio Spiteri de Barro, in this encounter, and had Serbian, Ivan Vuksanovic and Marc Lanzon both on three goals.

Ta Xbiex managed three goals from five man ups, but M'Xlokk were wasteful, with just a solitary strike from nine extra player occasions.

Ta Xbiex: J. Micallef, A. Maclari 6, A. Camenzuli 1, G. Attard , M. Kallay 5, K. Mock 1, J. Galea , G. Debono , E. Gravina 1, M. Zammit , A. Mifsud , L. Pace , K. Grima Scott

M'xlokk: N. Xuereb, M. Korolija1 , A. Galea , C. Gialanze 2, C. Bugeja 2, N. Portelli, I. Vuksanovic3 , A. Zarb Cousin 1, R. Scerri, M. Lanzon 3, J. Xerri de Caro, J. Cremona

Referees: M. Dalli, M. Cataldi