Marsascala's impressive comeback
Sirens 6Marsascala 7(1-0, 3-0, 1-3, 1-4)\nWhat a turn-up for the books this highly-charged match turned out to be! It was yet another clash which had a complete volte face when a five-goal deficit was turned to a splendid victory with three seconds to...
Sirens 6
Marsascala 7
(1-0, 3-0, 1-3, 1-4)
\nWhat a turn-up for the books this highly-charged match turned out to be! It was yet another clash which had a complete volte face when a five-goal deficit was turned to a splendid victory with three seconds to go.
The team who did this Houdini act this time was Marsascala Breakers who managed to stun league leaders Sirens Go Mobile courtesy of an astonishing comeback. It had looked all over for the southseasiders as they fumbled against a slick Sirens who had done everything right to take a 5-0 lead early in the third session.
But Marsascala, with Clint Mercieca making a return with a hat-trick, believed in themselves. They stuck doggedly to tight press and suddenly found their scoring edge to convert their last five man-ups after missing the first three.
Sirens wilted under this pressure. In the end, John Xerri de Caro did it for Marsascala and that left the title issue still undecided.
After missing out on their first numerical advantage, Marsascala frittered an ideal break through Kayne Lanzon. That miss proved costly as Sirens forged ahead when Neil Cassar deceived Bonnici from an angle.
The St Paul's Bay team cashed in on their opening man-up set shortly after the first restart. David Cutajar found a gap from the left to make it 2-0. Marsascala were banking on Privitera to win exclusions from the centre, but, again, they missed the third set when Sirens had a man dismissed.
Not so the northerners, for whom the useful Jurgen Borg hit in on his team's second extra-man situation.
The equally-efficient Claudio Spiteri De Barro, proving his emerging worth in the centre, potted goal number four with a cute back-hand.
Marsascala were hanging on the thinnest of ropes as ends were shifted, not so much for the adverse scoreline as for their inability to stamp their mark on the game. Sirens always had the edge.
Spiteri De Barro should have made it 5-0 but for some overconfidence when alone in front of Bonnici after trailing on a six-on-five break. Cutajar atoned for that miss when converting his team's third man-up.
Mercieca converted the southerners first from four extra-man sets to reduce the gap to 5-1 before he made it 5-2 with three minutes left in the third session.
At that point Sirens seemed to collapse and Privitera made the most of the time-out instructions to reduce the gap even further.
Sirens lost their first man-up late in the third session. That left Marsascala with more than a glimmer of hope as the last quarter was about to start. When Xerri de Caro trimmed down the leeway to one goal 85 seconds into the last restart (the third converted man-up) Pierre Borg's hopes of salvaging the game became more realistic.
Two more goals, both on man-ups, were scored at either end. The contest became increasingly exciting when Privitera levelled matters with 3:26 to go. By then Sirens had to contend with the absence, through definite exclusion, of Chris Cauchi.
Amid heart-throbbing moments Sirens' time-out turned out to be abortive. An ill-timed conclusion, had Xerri de Caro sneaking through to lob for a dramatic winner.
The Marsascala clan went hysteric with delight. Their boys had staged a truly remarkable comeback.
Sirens: J. Caruana Dingli, C. Spiteri De Barro (1), K. Rizzo Naudi, S. Cachia, C. Cauchi, J. Valletta, J. Borg (1), D. Cutajar (2), K. Montfort, W. Degiorgio (1), N. Imbroll, J. Farrugia, N. Cassar (1).
Marsascala: I. Bugeja, P. Fava, A. Galea, P. Privitera (2), C. Gialanze, J. Xerri de Caro (2), C. Mercieca (3), J. Cremona, K. Lanzon, J. Licari, M. Zammit, D. Ciappara.
Refs: V. Vecchio, M. Dalli.
John Xerri De Caro, Marsascala's match-winner, in the thick of action against Sirens. Picture: Darrin Zammit Lupi.
Division Two League
Ta' Xbiex 5
Marsaxlokk 5
(1-1, 1-1, 1-1, 2-2)
With Ta' Xbiex Mermaids Paradise only sharing the points with an improved Marsaxlokk Freeport, San Giljan made virtually sure of carrying off the second division title as they remain three points ahead of Charlie Mock's team, with a relatively easy match against bottom-placed Otters beckoning the decisive points.
The match was a balanced affair, with Marsaxlokk always edging ahead only to be caught up each time by their opponents for whom hat-trick hitter Gianfranco Stellini was in fine-form.
On their part, the south seasiders kept up the progress shown recently and with a little more steadiness could have struck success over a team ranked above them for the first time this season.
In midweek, San Giljan and the ASA Youths played in a re-arranged fixture with the Saints having the better of Anthony Farrugia's selection, winning 10-8.
The match was non-competitive, which left San Giljan on the 12-point mark.
Ta' Xbiex: C. Sciortino, G. Attard, G. Stellini (3), K. Sciortino, C. D'Ugo, E. Pisani, J. Zammit, D. Schembri, T. Boyd (1), M. Xuereb, J. Degabriele, F. Testa (1), D. Debono.
Marsaxlokk: R. Bonnici, D. Sullivan, R. Calleja (1), K. Incorvaja, K. Camilleri, C. Bugeja, A. Privitera (1), S. Cutajar, A. Cassar, M. Fava (1), D. Cassar (2), G. Borg, G. Zammit.
Refs: M. Ancilleri, A. DeRaffaele.