Highly-charged Blues win dramatically
Neptunes 8Sliema 9(2-4, 1-1, 3-0, 2-4)\nTrust Sliema Burger King to recharge their batteries and up their game when the going is tough! And when they face Neptunes, one can bet all one's money on them to beat the odds. A goal with less than a second to...
Neptunes 8
Sliema 9
(2-4, 1-1, 3-0, 2-4)
\nTrust Sliema Burger King to recharge their batteries and up their game when the going is tough!
And when they face Neptunes, one can bet all one's money on them to beat the odds.
A goal with less than a second to go netted by John Paris - their fourth on eight man-ups - enabled the Blues to upstage their rivals and keep their hopes alive to retain the league title.
Indeed, the Blues managed to overcome the obstacle of not being able to present their full squad, due to disciplinary action.
They stretched all their sinews to finally tilt the contest their way after having gone behind with a session to go.
Due credit is to be given to their players, particularly to Clint Debono, who scored a hat-trick early on, and the Ivan Muscat/Edward Aquilina tandem who netted two each.
Definitely it was also a team effort with all their manjack pulling all their weight.
As for Neptunes, it seems as if their season will again be one which will afflict their ego.
It's a question of being so near and yet so far for the Reds. The killer instinct is simply not there, even if they fought back to neutralise an early three-goal deficit and then take the lead.
But they simply failed to exploit their speed, even if the Blues are to be given credit for cautious cover.
One could not understand why Neptunes did not push their breaks to the limit when they had a chance to do so on some occasions.
In any case, that last-ditch Paris goal was hard on them to swallow.
Besides coach Sergio Afric, the Blues had two players suspended, Nicky Falzon and Mark Galea Pace.
Nevertheless, their preliminary round demolition of Neptunes - despite the tight 9-8 scoreline - could be regarded as a psychological advantage.
A two-goal start through conversions from Debono and Francesco Cutajar (man-up) instilled confidence in them.
Michele Stellini pulled one back, but Debono again breached Neptunes' erratic zone to make it 3-1.
Cachia pulled off successive saves on Neptunes extra-man set to deny the Reds. The Blues lost a similar situation.
The highly-charged Debono rocketed a fourth goal with a Neptunes player excluded before Stellini reduced the gap to 4-2. By this time Neptunes went for press cover.
The Reds again frittered their numerical advantage early in the second session. But another scorcher from Stellini did the trick for a 4-3 scoreline.
Again Neptunes messed a man-up, the third in succession. So did Sliema, when missing out their second from four occasions. Aquilina converted the fifth to make it 5-3 late in the second quarter.
No doubt the Blues were taking their chances better, even if tactically there was little in it up to the halfway stage. But Neptunes were unable to break and their lethal weapon was rendered blunt.
Pisani, at last, netted on a man-up to make it 5-4. It was the turn of Zammit to finally blast in from five metres to level the score.
It was still mainly zone at both ends. Galea scooped in to give the Reds the lead for the first time with two minutes to go in the third session. Sliema then failed their sixth man-up to keep Neptunes in front 6-5 prior to the last quarter. Muscat soon equalised before the Blues squandered their fourth man-up from seven.
Stellini reached his poker when the Blues had a man excluded, but Muscat again levelled matters when Neptunes zoned on him.
With three minutes to go it was anybody's game. Sliema won an exclusion and with 76 seconds left, Aquilina flicked in to again give them the lead.
Neptunes won numerical advantage in the last 47 seconds and David Camilleri netted with 23 seconds to go. It was the Blues' turn to go on a man-up set with 14 seconds left but a rebound came to Paris who sent his supporters into a frenzy of delight with 0.4 seconds left.
It was a dramatic winner all the way.
Neptunes: N. Gouder, N. Lanzon, S. Camilleri, K. Galea (1), E. Cachia, J. Brownrigg, S. Gravina, C. Zammit (1), David Camilleri (1), M. Azzopardi, Dean Camilleri, M. Stellini (4), M. Pisani (1).
Sliema: J. Cachia, G. Lubrano, E. Aquilina (2), D. Paolella, M. Meli, J. Soler, J. Paris (1), K. Engerer, C. Debono (3), F. Cutajar (1), R. Coleiro, I. Muscat (2), A. Bianchi.
Refs: M. Dalli, L. Bianco.
Next Fixtures
Wednesday - 5.30 p.m. Neptunes vs Marsascala; 6.30 p.m. Sliema vs Sirens