Blues in goal blitz as Saints, Sirens earn wins

Sliema McDonald's, San Ġiljan and Sirens Ritter Sport secured the points from yesterday morning's matches with the Blues thrashing Exiles Jet Services, the Saints holding Neptunes Emirates' late challenge and Sirens easily dismissing Marsascala.

In the opening match, San Ġiljan recovered from the beating they suffered against Sliema to sink Neptunes in a game which had Edward Aquilina providing a five-goal early salvo for his team, followed by hat-trick man Matthew Zammit who earned the Saints a posse of expulsions.

The match was marked by numerous attacker fouls which had the teams very often back pedalling after going into an attacking position. The muscle of Pierre Borg's team and their opportunism on man-up sets made for their strong take-off which gave them a 7-2 lead.

The Reds fought back to twice close the gap on 7-8 and 8-9 but two goals by Christian Gialanze secured his team a deserved victory over opponents who tried to make belated amends for some early ingenuity.

Sliema's demolition of Exiles in the second match was on the cards from the outset. The Blues' heavier ammunition was always evident, even when Sergio Afric had lighter men in the water.

Hence it was a one-way traffic encounter which had the winter title holders pounding their way home mercilessly despite numerous judicious substitutions. Even the Spiteri Staines brothers and Michael Cordina inserted themselves on the scoresheet.

A strong start presented them with the opportunity to go free-wheeling as their opponents could never steady themselves on set-play, much less on breaks. John Brownrigg, now a useful cog in his team's scoring machine, was conspicuous early on when helping himself to a hat-trick and eventually extending his tally by two more goals.

With the match never on as a contest, the proceedings petered out to a predictably tame ending. Victory for the Blues had long been in the bag. The blitz had been at its heaviest in the last sessions.

The last match resulted in an easy win for Sirens which puts them on the top of the standings, a point above Sliema but with the Blues having a game in hand.

Given their faster swimming and brisker set play, the Northerners took a stranglehold on the proceedings and never relinquished this grip.

Marsascala were simply out of their depth in all phases of the game, lacking cohesion and sting. This resulted in an easy outing for Sirens who may not have pulled all the strings in driving their superiority home.

A light 3-0 kickstart, extended to 5-1 before ends were shifted, put Karl Izzo's side in the driving seat. Such a scoreline gave them a false sense of security which was occasionally evident.

Nevertheless, the outcome was not in any way in question, with David Cutajar's poker and Alex Attard's hat-trick helping their team to a comfortable 12-4 victory.

Summaries

Neptunes 9
San Ġiljan 11
(1-2, 3-5, 3-2, 2-2)

Neptunes: N. Gouder, N. Lanzon 2, T. Agius, M. Stellini 3, E. Cachia 1, B. Lanzon, J. Camilleri 1, K. Debattista, B. Buhagiar 1, S. Gravina 1, K. Micallef, M. Pisani.

San Ġiljan: D. Camilleri, C. Spiteri de Barro, M. Pace, K. Galea, C. Gialanze 2, M. Zammit 3, R. Scerri, A. Bianchi, E. Aquilina 5, A. Borda, P. Fava 1, K. Dowling, K. Schembri.

Refs: M. Ancilleri, P. Balzan.

Sliema 23
Exiles 4
(5-1, 3-1, 7-1, 8-1)

Sliema: R. Coleiro, M. Spiteri Staines 1, N. Lubrano 2, P. Privitera 2, M. Meli 1, J. Soler 3, D. Paolella 2, J. Brownrigg 5, C. Debono 1, J. Spiteri Staines 3, M. Rizzo 2, M. Cordina 1, A. Bianchi.

Exiles: A. Cachia, J. Rizzo Naudi, K. Rizzo Naudi, J. Fenech, T. Sullivan 2, M. Calleja 1, J. Paris 1, M. Paris, A. Zarb Cousin, S. Cini, A. Arrigo, M. Fenech.

Refs: M. Dalli, I. Sciriha.

Sirens 12
Marsascala 4
(3-0, 2-1, 3-1, 4-2)

Sirens: J. Sammut, A. Attard 3, P. Micallef, P. Borg 2, A. Sammut, R. Mock 1, J. Borg 1, D. Cutajar 4, O. Zammit, C. Zammit, C. Mercieca, D. Zammit 1, J. Cremona.

Marsascala: I. Bugeja, J.C. Cutajar 1, J. Bonnici, G. Pace, M. Manara, L. Griscti, R. Attard 2, J. Cremona, S. Micallef, E. Bonello 1, D. Cassar, D. Abela.

Refs: A. DeRaffaele, R. Spiteri.