2nd consecutive win for San Ġiljan

Waterpolo

San Giljan TUM Invest 17 M’Xlokk Browns 11 (6-3), (3-2), (5-2), (4-4)

San Ġiljan TUM Invest claimed their fifth win of the league beating Marsaxlokk Brown’s Pharma 17-11. The performance of Marko Orlovic’s team wasn’t spectacular but they did more than enough to win the three points.

Dino Zammit inspired his team to a three-goal lead in the first session with a brace as San Ġiljan controlled the game from the start. Andreas Galea, Niksa Dobud, Paul Fava and Guillermo Molina scored the other goals while Ivan Nagaev scored a Marsaxlokk.

Vlahovic responded twice to the goals by Dino Zammit and Niksa Dobud as Marsaxlokk kept their distance within reach until Dobud scored his third of the game to give San Ġiljan what seemed a comfortable 9-5 lead.

But Marsaxlokk reacted in the third session as their foreigners Andrija Vlahovic and Ivan Nagaev scored consecutively to cut the gap to only two goals. San Ġiljan were sharp enough to scored four consecutive goals in the same session to assure themselves of the win.

Dobud thought he scored another goal at the end of the third session scoring from a corner, a goal that brought several protests by Marsaxlokk as they deemed the goal illegal. Both referees discussed the issue and decided that the ball went out of play from the side and therefore it wasn’t a corner. So they reversed the decision and ordered to play again the last eight seconds.

The last session was a formality as Marsaxlokk took the opportunity in the last minutes of the match to reduce the gap.

San Ġiljan: J. Tanti, B. Grech (1), A. Galea (2), N. Dobud (4), G. Molina (1), M. Zammit (1), B. Plumpton (2), K. Dowling, T. Said, Da. Zammit, P. Fava (2), Di. Zammit (4), T. Micallef, J. Portelli, Z. 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, M. Pace

Referees: Mario Dalli, Massimo Calabro hat-trick for