San Ġiljan keep marching on

Waterpolo - BOV Summer Leagues Neptunes return to winning ways

■ Stewart Said

Valletta United San Giljan Tum Invest (0-3), (1-5), (1-4), (2-5) 4 16

San Ġiljan Tum Invest kept edging closer to their tenth league as they easily brushed aside Valletta United with a clear 16-4 win.

Another stellar performance by Orlovic’s men as they kept the same rhythm from start to finish, and if they win their next game at the start of the third round, they will be only a point away from securing a deserved title.

Surely they were expecting a much tougher opponent than they did, as Valletta were coming from an unfortunate 8-7 defeat against Sliema, but they showed no determination in the game and had no reaction for the early goals of their opponents.

A brace by Aleksandar Ivovic and a goal in between by Paul Fava, gave the leaders a comfortable lead.

As things stood, San Ġiljan had a clear path for victory as Valletta gave no real opposition to battle their opponents’ play, and in fact San Ġiljan finished the second session 8-1.

Despite securing the win, San Ġiljan kept playing their game as Orlovic introduced the youngsters in the team to give them playing time.

Valletta kept their same level of play, and it was no surprise that they continued to score in the third and fourth session to score another eight goals from seven different players in the last two sessions to round an easy win.

Valletta: R. Sciortino, J. Spiteri Staines, A. Agius, M. Rizzo, M. Fenech (1), R. Mock (1), D. Paolella, N. Bonello Ghio, M. Cordina, B. Vapenski (1), K. Galea (1), D. Fenech, A. Mifsud

San Ġiljan: J. Tanti, P. Borg (1), A. Galea (1), B. Grech, J. Galea (1), M. Zammit (1), B. Plumpton (1), D. Zammit, A. Ivovic (5), A. Cousin (2), P. Fava (1), D. Zammit (3), T. Micallef

Referees: Alex De Mirko Schiavo Raffaele,

Exiles Jetfreight Neptunes Leo Vegas (0-3), (1-5), (3-3), (1-2) 5 13

A win was on the cards before the game and Neptunes Leo Vegas made sure not to let it slip away with a positive performance in the first part of the game. To make matters worse, this was not the day for Exiles as they weren’t sharp like other games and coach Dorian Pisani will not be satisfied with the team’s performance.

Zoran Maslovar will be happy with his team’s main scorers as Stevie Camilleri scored a poker, Romain Blary and Miguel Zammit netted a hat-trick while veteran Niki Lanzon scored a brace alongside Jordan Camilleri’s goal.

A brace by Stevie Camilleri and Romain Blary gave Neptunes a solid lead in the first session, as Neptunes continued to dominate the game and practically made sure of winning the game till the end of the second period with a seven-goal margin.

The game for both teams had different meaning, as Exiles were trying to reduce the gap while Neptunes were looking to give more space to the fringe players while also keep on scoring.

The third session was evenly balanced as both teams shared six goals, with Neptunes scoring after every goal by Exiles.

The rhythm of the game stayed the same in the last eight min- utes as Neptunes continue to control ending the game with a comfortable win.

Exiles: M. Castillo, J. Rizzo Naudi, D. Borg Millo, M. Stellini, T. Sullivan (1), S. Xerri de Caro, S. Nikic, K. Griscti (3), N. Paris, A. Bianchi, B. Lanzon (1), L. Felice, S. Galea Pace

Neptunes: A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon (2), T. Agius, K. Erdogan, R. Blary (3), S. Gravina, S. Camilleri (4), J. Camilleri (1), J. Abela, M. Zammit (3), M. Azzopardi, I. Bugeja

Referees: Massimo Angileri, Riccardo Carmignani

Birzebbugia ASC Marsaxlokk Ficher (2-0), (0-2), (2-2), (1-3) 5 7

Marsaxlokk Fischer won a tight contest as they defeated Birżebbuġa 7-5.

The game was more characterised on arguments rather than the actions itself, as Marsaxlokk protested heavily on a decision that could have had an impact on the game. Birżebbuġa had a positive game considering that they played against the league leaders, but relied too much on their foreigner Sergi Mora to score goals and in the end proved to be costly.

The game till the second session was still even as Birżebbuġa won the first session with goals from David Pace Lupi and Sergi Mora while Marsaxlokk won the second session with the same score with a brace in the beginning and the end of the session from Claudio Spiteri Debarro.

Marsaxlokk tried to take control of the game after the break but Sergi Mora had other plans as he responded twice to the Champions’ goals. Near the end of the session, Marsaxlokk looked to have taken the lead with a goal by Sean Meli, but the goal was not convalidated as there seemed to be a time-out by Birżebbuġa when they had the possession, a decision that brought harsh protest by Marsaxlokk.

The last session was the one that decided the game and after Mora equalised again after the goal of Kovacic, Kayne Lanzon put Marsaxlokk in front again. Birżebbuġa lost their striking force after both Mora and Pace Lupi were sent-off.

Marsaxlokk controlled the last moments and even made sure of the win in the end.

Birżebbuġa: D. Abela, M. Manara, S. Mora (4), D. Pace Lupi (1), A. Camenzuli, A. Sammut, S. Vassallo, N. Cassar, G. Farrugia, M. Caruana, K. Gauci, O. Zammit, D. Spiteri

Marsaxlokk: A. Xuereb, C. Spiteri Debarro (2), L. Calleja, K. Galea, C. Gialanze, C. Bugeja, S. Meli, Z. Kovacic (1), B. Buhagiar (2), R. Scerri (1), K. Lanzon (1), M. Cacici, R. Bonnici

Referees: Stefan Licari, Mirko Schiavo