San Giljan march on, Exiles register first victory
Sliema Frank Salt 5 San Giljan Tumas Invest 8 (0-2), (4-3), (0-1), (1-2)
San Giljan registered their 37th consecutive victory in all competitions when they beat a rather resilient Sliema 8-5. However Sliema were a much tougher nut to crack and the saints only prevailed comfortably after Sliema had three players sent off and squandered a number of man up opportunities.
San Giljan won the first session 20 with goals from Dino Zammit and Peter Borg. Sliema recovered well in the second session with goals coming from Jerome Gabarretta, Nicholas Bugelli and Zach Mizzi. San Giljan replied through Peter Borg and Matthew Zammit before Dino Zammit scored a penalty but in the final seconds, James Spiteri Staines made it 4-3 for Sliema and just one goal between the sides at the interval.
The third session was an extremely close affair but San Giljan shaded it 1-0 with Dino Zammit scoring a penalty to maintain a two goal advantage for the final session. The second session went San Giljan’s way too by two goals to one with Ben Plumpton and paul Fava scoring for the Saints and Nicky Bugelli grabbing one back for Sliema at the death.
J Sammut, J Gabarretta (1), D Fenech, M Carani, M Meli, K Dowling, M Spiteri Staines, J Saliba, M Cordina, Z Chetcuti, Z Mizzi (1), N Bugelli (1), Z Sciberras
J Tanti, P Borg (2), A Galea, B Grech, J Galea, M Zammit (1), B Plumpton (1), C Farrugia, T Said, D Zammit, P Fava (1), D Zammit (3), T Micallef
Valletta Videoslots Exiles Ferretti (0-1), (2-2), (1-2), (2-1)
Exiles Ferretti managed to obtain their first victory when they beat Valletta Videoslots 6-5 in a close encounter.
The first session was an extremely close affair with Exiles prevailing through a goal scored by Chris von Brockdorff. Valletta squandered two man up opportunities as Exiles defended stoutly. The second session ended 2-2 with Exiles having gone 3-0 up through Nicky Paris and a Timmy Sullivan penalty.
However Marc Lanzon and Andrea Agius pulled it back for Valletta in the final seconds.
The third session ended 2-1 for Exiles with Sean Xerri de Caro putting Exiles two goals up but Keith Galea again made it a one goal game. Towards the end of the session, Nicky Paris scored his second and Exiles’ fifth to set up a fine final session. This ended 2-2 with some tense moments for Exiles. Nicky Farrugia scored first for Valletta with Marc Fenech equalizing from a penalty. Ryan Mock made it interesting but Exiles held out for their first victory.
R Sciortino, J Spiteri Staines, N Farrugia (1), M Mifsud, T Agius, R Mock (1), D Paolella, D Saliba, A Mifsud, A Agius (1), K Galea (1), L Gialanze, M Lanzon (1)
M Castillo, C Von Brockdorff (1), A Bianchi, P Paris, T Sullivan (1), S Xerri de Caro (1), M Fenech (1), K Griscti, N Paris (2), A Cousin, B Lanzon, L Felice, G Ciappara
5 6
Peter Balzan, Alex DeRaffaele
Neptunes Leo Vegas Sirens Greentube (1-4), (3-4), (3-3), (2-1) 9 12
Sirens Greentube registered an important victory against Neptunes Leo Vegas winning 12-9 to climb to second place in the table. Both Jacob Sciberras and Jordan Camilleri scored four goals each with the first session crucial for Sirens.
Sirens came out like a house on fire and took the first session 4-1 with Jacob Sciberras scoring a brace and Isiah Riolo and John Brownrigg adding others. Jordan Camilleri scored the only goal for Neptunes.
The second session saw Sirens race to a 6-1 lead with two goals from Sciberras and Marc Grech but Neptunes managed to get back in the game with strikes from Niki Lanzon and Nikolai Zammit, the latter from a man up.
Riolo again established a four goal advantage for Sirens but a controversial goal from Miguel Zammit made it 3-3 However in the dying seconds, Jacob Sciberras scored his fourth to re-establish the four goal lead for Sirens at the change of ends.
The third session was another close affair ending 3-3. Sirens went 9-4 ahead through Isiah Riolo but Neptunes came back with Jordan Camilleri and Niki Lanzon to come within three goals.
However a brilliant goal from Paul Privitera and another from Clint Mercieca put Sirens five goals ahead before Jordan Camilleri squared the session to leave Sirens comfortably ahead for the final session.
Neptunes went two goals ahead in the fourth session through Gabriel Pace and Jordan Camilleri and squandered several good opportunities to equalize as Sirens began to tire.
However a goal towards the end by Edward Aquilina made it 12-9 for Sirens to register their third victory and rise to second place in the table.
A Borg Cole, N Lanzon (2), K Erdogan, G Pace (1), J Farrugia, J Culic, N Zammit (1), J Camilleri (4), M Cutajar, M Zammit (1), J Muscat, M Azzopardi, F Buhagiar
N Grixti, J Zerafa Gregory, E Aquilina (1), P Privitera (1), M Grech (1), I Riolo (1), C Mercieca (1), J Sciberras (4), J Napier, C Zammit, L Caruana, J Brownrigg (2), A Camenzuli
Referees: M Angileri, R Spiteri
First Division Results
Birzebbugia Freeport Otters Nivea (4-1), (3-3), (6-3), (4-2)
Marsaskala Transkripta Ta’ Xbiex Amigos (0-2), (2-0), (5-0), (2-5) Premier
San Ġiljan Sirens Sliema Neptunes Exiles Valletta
Div I
Birżebbuġa Marsaskala Ta’ Xbiex Otters P W D 4 4 0 4 3 0 4 1 0 4 0 0
17 9
9 7
Standings
L F A Pts 0 48 21 12 1 33 23 9 3 30 30 3 4 18 55 0