Sirens took some time to shake off Exiles’ challenge and could only pull away with late goals, three of which came from Valentino Gallo, to book a place in the BOV Knock-Out semi-finals.
The Italian goal-getter took some time to settle down but his deployment on the right after the change of ends gave Sasko Popovski’s side a wider attacking platform.
Exiles had their opponents chasing them scorewise until Sirens started to fire on all cylinders, scoring six times without reply.
Exiles were twice caught up early on but took a 3-2 first session lead.
While the Sliema side continued to grow in stature, Sirens looked puerile as they messed up most of their possession sets.
After Sirens twice pulled back to level the second session at 2-2, Exiles took matters in hand in the third session to extend their lead to 9-6.
In the last quarter, Gallo rediscovered his scoring impetus to save Sirens’s blushes and book their place in the semi-finals where they will take on Sliema on Friday.
San Ġiljan’s road to recovery in the BOV Premier Division continued yesterday with a second win in a trot, this time, easily seeing off Marsaxlokk. There was no question about their superiority as Marko Orlovic’s men were streets ahead.
The Saints made their intentions clear from the outset when they took a 6-3 first-session lead to secure an adequate starting base. Their goals came from Dino Zammit who scored twice, Andreas Galea, Niksa Dobud, Paul Fava and Guillermo Molina.
Marsaxlokk replied through a hat-trick by Ivan Nagaev, who had momentarily equalised on 1-1.
In a keenly-fought second quarter, San Ġiljan went 9-5 ahead thanks to Dobud (two goals) and Zammit with Marsaxlokk replying with two goals from Andrija Vlahovic.
The start of the third session prompted Marsaxlokk into a mini fight-back when reducing the deficit to 9-7.
But San Ġiljan still had more oxygen to score five times in succession with Dobud reaching four goals to extend their lead to 13-7.
Victory had long been in the bag.
A 4-4 reading in terms of goals in the last session in favour of San Giljan set the seal on their comprehensive success with Matthew Zammit’s swivelling backhand catching the eye for its execution.
SIRENS GREENTUBE 13
EXILES ELIA CATERS 10
(2-3, 2-2, 2-4, 7-1)
Sirens: N. Grixti, J. Zerafa Gregory, C. Presciutti 1, P. Privitera 2, M. Grech, J. Brownrigg 1, I. Riolo 2, V. Gallo 5, J. Napier, E. Aquilina 2, L. Caruana, M. Sciberras, O. Gauci.
Exiles: M. Martin, M. Stellini 1, A. Magri, M. Jelaca 3, T. Sullivan 1, S. Xerri de Caro, M. Fenech 2, K. Griscti, M. Vukicevic 3, A. Cousin, N. Paris, P. Paris.
Refs: Stefano Licari, Alessandro Chimenti.
SAN ĠILJAN 17
MARSAXLOKK 10
(6-3, 3-2, 4-2, 4-4)
San Ġiljan: J.Tanti, B. Grech 1, A. Galea 2, N. Dobud 4, G. Molina 1, M. Zammit 1, B. Plumpton 1, K. Dowiling, T. Said, Darren Zammit, P. Fava 2, Dino Zammit 4, T. Micallef.
Marsaxlokk: R. Coleiro, J. Rizzo Naudi, L. Calleja, M. Martellacci, T. Agius 1, J. Galea, A. Vlahovic 4, I. Nagaev 6, S. Micallef, R. Scerri, L. Saliba, K. Galea, F. Buhagiar.
Refs: Mario Dalli, Massimo Calabrò.