Sirens' power downs Marsascala

Sirens 12
(1-1, 3-1, 4-2, 4-1)
Marsascala 5

After some encouraging outings Marsascala Breakers again failed to negotiate the obstacle put up 2x Sirens and the outcome in yesterday's match was a clear-cut victory for the team guided by John Farrugia.

This latest success was thoroughly deserved as Jonathan Valletta and his colleagues had more power and displayed much better shooting options. Moreover, Sirens' superior driving and movement when in possession had their opponents' defensive lines in all sorts of problems, not the least goalkeeper Ian Bugeja who did not have one of his best outings.

Marsascala could only contain their opponents until the first session after which they threw in the towel against more resilient opponents.

Indeed, the margin of victory for Sirens mirrored the grit and superior weaponry they had. However, there was little to suggest such a runaway victory in a balanced first quarter. But then Sirens took over.

Anthony Galea gave the southerners an early lead with Sirens equalising a few seconds from the end of the first session through Neil Cassar.

The respective centres found little elbow room at this point as they were stifled by doublemarking when the ball was served to them. Until Karl Montfort made it 2-1 with a back hand, with Juergen Borg giving Sirens a two-goal lead seconds later.

Cauchi eluded the attentions of Galea to make it 4-1. But Paul Privitera reduced the arrears.

Soon after the second restart Paul Fava scored when his team were a man over to make it 4-3.

But that was as far as the southerners could go as Mercieca made it 5-3, followed a calibrated lob from David Cutajar.

Just like as they did in the second session, the northerners were displaying more opportunism and another conversion from Mercieca underlined this edge. Marsascala squandered their first man over set but Galea cut down the leeway to 7-4.

There were more man-up sets but Sirens were in total command as Valletta made his presence felt with a hat-trick between the end of the third session and midway through the last one. In between Galea also completed his hat-trick but by then the advantage was a gaping five goals. Cauchi and Karl Rizzo Naudi sealed their team's victory on 12-5.

Sirens: J. Caruana Dingli, A. Grech, J. Rizzo Naudi, K. Rizzo Naudi 1, C. Cauchi 2, J. Valletta 3, J. Borg 1, D. Cutajar 1, K. Montfort 1, C. Zammit, C. Mercieca 2, R. Attard, N. Cassar 1.

Marsascala: I. Bugeja, C. Spiteri de Barro, A. Galea 3, P. Privitera 1, C. Gialanze, J. Xerri de Caro, J. Licari, L. Grixti, S. Micallef, R. Cutajar, P. Fava 1, D. Ciappara, S. Farrugia.

Refs: S. Balzan, E. Costa.

Saints cruise through

San Giljan 17
(4-3, 4-0, 6-0, 3-0)
Marsaxlokk 3

San Giljan Foster Clark found little opposition when facing Marsa-xlokk Freeport yesterday and their comfortable margin of victory was true of their superiority in a match in which they kept piling up the goals.

A close first session, which saw the Saints leading by the odd goal in seven, gave no indication of the final outcome. But Ian Azzopardi's team, took complete control from the second session onwards and their dominance helped them to a goal spree.

They topped the scoring charts in the third session, scoring six goals without reply after they had changed ends 8-3 in the lead.

Glenn Ghirxi was San Giljan's top scorer with four conversions followed by Matthew Zammit who netted a hat-trick.

San Giljan: D. Camilleri, K. Lanzon 2, I. Camilleri, C. Bonello 1, G. Ghirxi 4, M. Zammit 3, I. Azzopardi, M. Pace 2, G. Farrugia 1, A. Borda 1, S. Borg 2, J. Spiteri, K. Grima Scott 1.

Marsaxlokk: R. Bonnici, S. Cachia, R. Calleja, A. Farrugia, N. Kerr 1, C. Bugeja 1, C. Jones, S. Cutajar, K. Incorvaja, M. Fava 1, D. Cassar, M. Cutajar, G. Zammit.

Refs: Miro Caruana, Ronnie Spiteri.

Fixtures

Today
5 p.m. Ta' Xbiex vs Exiles
6 p.m. Otters vs Valletta
7 p.m. Neptunes vs Sliema.