First phase comes to an end

Curtains were brought down to the first phase of this year's Winter League in which six teams took part, besides the ASA U-17 who were playing out of competition.

As expected, both Sirens Go Mobile and Marsascala Breakers registered victories over San Giljan and Exiles respectively. In between those two matches, Sliema Burger King saw off the ASA Youth team.

The programme now resumes on Saturday afternoon with the top four teams after the first phase, fighting it out for the winter prize.

In yesterday's first clash, Sirens cantered to a 7-2 victory over San Giljan in a contest which had the northerners pull away gradually from their opponents.

No doubt, Joe Attard had faster swimmers at his disposal, although at times they were rather wasteful in their final pot at goal. They won each of the first three sessions by a solitary goal to start the last quarter 4-1 ahead. They went one better in the final part of the game when extending their advantage by a further two goals.

San Giljan had done their best to keep the damage to acceptable proportions.

Sliema, on their part, finished the first phase of the competition with a comfortable 11-4 victory over ASA Youths. They finished second in the standings, albeit on equal points with Sirens.

The Blues asserted their edge right from the beginning as they took a 3-1 lead in the opening quarter. Five goals without reply helped Sliema to open up an 8-1 lead by the end of the third quarter. They were already the better side, exploiting their powerful finishing and superior tactical sense.

The Youths fought manly to avoid a bigger defeat. In fact, they managed to maintain an even keel in the last quarter of the game after sharing six goals with their opponents.

The main scorers for Sliema were, as usual, John Soler and John Paris, who each netted a hat-trick.

Marsascala had little difficulty in dismissing bottom of the table Exiles in the final match on yesterday's card. They took their opponents by storm and were already three goals up at the end of the first session.

Displaying much better sharpness, both in passing and execution, the team led by Pierre Borg were in no danger against Marco Manara's outfit.

Three more goals against one conceded in the second session, made it 6-1 for Marsascala before they opened that lead to 9-1 with the last quarter to go.

Exiles reacted to win the last seven-minute period 3-1 to end up with a six-goal deficit on 10-4.

Jason Vella netted the last two goals, the final one being the 200th of the competition.

Sirens 7
San Giljan 2
(1-0, 1-0, 2-1, 3-1)

Sirens: J. Caruana Dingli, C. Spiteri de Barro, K. Rizzo Naudi, J. Rizzo Naudi, C. Cauchi (1), J. Valletta (1), J. Borg (2), P. Cutajar (1), K. Montfort (1), W. Degiorgio (1), S. Cachia, J. Farrugia, N. Cassar, R. D'Amato, N. Imbroll.

San Giljan: K. Schembri, C. Bonello, S. Mercieca, M. Camilleri, N. Kerr, M. Zammit (1), I. Azzo-pardi (1), P. Cachia, G. Farrugia, A. Borda, G. Ghirxi, P. Dimech, K. Grima Scott, J. Spiteri.

Refs: P. Balzan, A. Farrugia.

Sliema 11
ASA Youths 4
(3-1, 1-0, 4-0, 3-3)

Sliema: J. Cachia, D. Paolella, E. Aquilina (2), M. Galea Pace (1), C. Zammit, J. Soler (3), J. Paris (3), K. Engerer, C. Debono (1), F. Cutajar, S. Decesare, I. Muscat (1), D. Schembri.

ASA Youths: R. Coleiro, S. Camilleri, G. Lubrano, B. Borg (1), M. Meli (1), A. Bianchi (1), M. Brownrigg, J. Rizzo Naudi (1), J. Brownrigg, S. Gravina, M. Zammit, D. Saliba.

Refs: P. Balzan, M. Caruana.

Marsascala 10
Exiles 4
(3-0, 3-1, 3-0, 1-3)

Marsascala: I. Bugeja, I. Fava, A. Galea, P. Privitera (1), C. Gialanze, J. Xerri de Caro, C. Mercieca (1), J. Cremona, K. Lanzon (3), K. Enriquez (1), R. Calleja, M. Zammit (1), D. Ciappara (3), R. Cutajar, A. Tanti.

Exiles: J. Cuschieri, M. Grima, M. Zarb, D. Pace Lupi, T. Sullivan, K. Camilleri, M. Decesare, A. Bruno, M. Psaila, S. Balzan, S. Borg (2), J. Vella (2), M. Calleja.

Refs: M. Dalli, A. DeRaffaele.

Upcoming fixtures

Saturday - 5 p.m. Neptunes vs Sirens; 6 p.m. Sliema vs Marsascala.

Saturday, May 17 - 5 p.m. Sliema vs Sirens; 6 p.m. Neptunes vs Marsascala.

Saturday, May 24 - 5 p.m. Marsascala vs Sirens; 6 p.m. Sliema vs Neptunes.