San Giljan struck a psychological blow on the eve of the Premier Division Play-Offs with an emphatic win over Neptunes to win the BOV Knock-Out final on Wednesday.
What a fascinating final this has turned out to be! San Giljan were again the protagonists as they toppled Neptunes for the second time in four days to inflict more damage on an ailing Neptunes side.
Again, it was a match that kept the large crowd in the stands on their toes. Neptunes were aware that this was a must-win match for them as they wanted to lift their spirits up after back-to-back defeats to Sliema and San Giljan punctured their invincible aura.
They put their hearts into it and at one point in the third session, they had a two-goal advantage on their rivals. But San Giljan were unperturbed as they came back with their star players Matthew Zammit, Nikolai Zammit, and Andreas Galea.
Dorian Pisani, Neptunes’ new coach, must have been bracing himself for a baptism of fire when his side squared up to his former side San Giljan in the KO final.
Fifteen seconds into the game, Peter Borg immediately showed Pisani the size of the task he faces when he put his side 1-0 up. Jake Muscat converted the first man-up situation for the Reds. The Saints regained the lead through Zammit. On the other side, a similar situation arose for Neptunes but this time, Muscat fumbled the man-up. This turned out costly as Jake Bonavia and Peter Borg made it 5-3 for San Giljan at the end of the first session.
The Reds managed to pull the strings in the second session as they netted twice without reply, the last being a superb goal by Jeremy Abela. Neptunes’ free-scoring stalwart Alec Fenech helped himself to a hat-trick to nullify San Giljan’s advantage and put his side in the lead for the first time on 7-6 before the change of ends.