San Giljan go down to Sliema in Cachia's last match

As expected, there were no surprises on the fourth day of matches from the preliminary round of the 7-Up League in a five-match programme spread over the morning and afternoon at the National Pool.

Front runners Go Mobile Sirens, Marsascala Breakers, Sliema Burger King and Neptunes Vodafone all registered comfortable victories yet again at the expense of weaker Division Two opposition.

Marsascala made light work of Otters to register a fourth consecutive win. They had already made sure of the points by the end of the second session when they were leading 7-1.

Despite their comprehensive lead, Marsascala kept pouring forward on the change of ends, scoring consistently with skipper Paul Privitera and Claudio Spiteri Debarro finishing the match with six goals each. The only blemish for Marsascala was their poor record in man-up sets. They failed to find the Gozitans' net in any of the three occasions they had an extra player in the pool.

Sliema yesterday conceded their first goal in over 53 minutes in an 11-2 win over San Giljan Kia. The champions, who had beaten Valletta 17-0 on Friday, were heading for another cleansheet but with two minutes and four seconds to go Steve Mercieca beat Josie Cachia to score San Giljan's first goal of the match.

Sliema, however, should be satisfied with the good early season form and sound defending as forwards John Paris and John Soler keep hitting in the goals.

San Giljan, yesterday led for the last time from the bench by Alfred Cachia, will hope for a quick change in fortunes after losing all four matches so far. Warren Debono, who coached the Saints two years ago, is likely to replace Cachia, who resigned last week.

The final match of the morning programme was another no-contest as Neptunes thrashed Valletta United 23-4. The Balluta Bay team were in devastating form in the opening two sessions, opening a 15-2 lead.

Anthony Farrugia's Valletta showed a marked improvement in the second half of the match but they still finished at the wrong end of a massive 23-4 result with Neptunes' Karl Galea notching eight goals.

Ta' Xbiex had an auspicious start to the season but yesterday sorely felt the absence of veteran Peter Paolella as Aldo Xerri's team came a cropper against Exiles who cantered home to a deserved victory, their second on the trot.

Exiles' win matured after a fine collective effort from Marco Manara's players with Malcolm Zarb scoring three times and Martin Calleja keeping his appointment of scoring in every match so far with a well-taken goal.

In the last match of the day, Jonathan Valletta scored four goals and Karl Montfort added another four as Joe Attard's Sirens imposed their superiority over a lacklustre Marsaxlokk side right from the start for a straightforward 15-2 win.

The southerners opted for ball possession in their bid to keep the score low but the St Paul's Bay outfit, perhaps the most in-form team at the moment, gave their less quoted opponents little space to manoeuvre before romping home to a fourth successive win.

Summaries

Marsascala Breakers 21
(3-1, 4-0, 7-0, 7-2)
Otters 3

Marsascala: I. Bugeja, C. Spiteri Debarro (6), T. Galea (2), P. Privitera (6), C. Gialanze, J. Xerri De Caro, J. Licari, L. Grixti, S. Micallef (1), K. Lanzon (2), P. Fava (1), M. Borg Spiteri (2), D. Ciappara (1).

Otters: L. Borg, D. Saliba, G. Zammit, S. Grech (1), J. Grech, C. Zammit, P. Saliba, R. D' Amato, D. Saliba, M. Camilleri, R. Grech, M. Tabone (2), J. Cassar, K. Vella, J.P. Buttigieg.

Refs: M. Caruana, A. Fenech.

Sliema Burger King 11
(5-0, 0-0, 2-0, 4-2)
San Giljan Kia Motors 2

Sliema: J. Cachia, G. Lubrano, E. Aquilina (1), M. Galea Pace (2), M. Meli, J. Soler (2), J. Paris (3), K. Engerer, C. Debono, F. Cutajar (2), R. Coleiro, I. Muscat (1), A. Bianchi.

San Giljan: K. Schembri, K. D Ugo, S. Mercieca (1), C. Bonello, M. Zammit, I. Azzopardi, J. Camilleri, G. Farrugia, Ant. Borda, S. Borg (1), M. Pace, K. Grima Scott, Adam Borda, J. Spiteri.

Refs: A. De Raffaele, P. Balzan.

Neptunes Vodafona 23
(9-1, 6-1, 4-0, 4-2)
Valletta United Fortina 4

Neptunes: N. Gouder, N. Lanzon (2), S. Camilleri (3), K. Galea (8), E. Cachia (2), J. Brownrigg, S. Gravina (1), T. Agius, David Camilleri (1), M. Azzopardi (3), Dean Camilleri, M. Stellini, M. Pisani (3).

Valletta: P. Bonnici, P. Toledo, Mauro Camilleri, Marco Camilleri, D. Degiorgio, K. Hyzler, A. Galea, J.C. Farrugia (1), D. Shaw, C. Saliba, K. Bruno (1), E. Mifsud (1), K. Zarb Adami (1).

Refs: M. Ancilleri, M. Dalli.

Ta' Xbiex M. Paradise 2
(0-3, 0-3, 0-1, 2-1)
Exiles Rmf 8

TA' XBIEX: D. Debono, G. Attard, E. Pisani, K. Sciortino, C. D'Ugo, A. Feró, J. Zammit, D. Schembri (1), T. Boyd, S. Balzan, W. Privitera, F. Testa (1), C. Sciortino.

EXILES: A. Grech, M. Grima, M. Zarb (3), D. Pace Lupi (2), D. Sullivan, K. Camilleri, J. Cremona (2), J.J. Tabone, A. Arrigo, J. Vella, M. Calleja (1), J. Cuschieri.

Refs: M. Dalli, I. Sciriha.

Marsaxlokk Freeport 2
(0-3, 1-3, 0-6, 1-3)
Go Mobile Sirens 15

Marsaxlokk: R. Bonnici, S. Cachia, R. Calleja, K. Incorvaja, N. Kerr, C. Bugeja, R. Cutajar (1), S. Cutajar, G. Ghirxi, K. Enriquez, D. Cassar, L. Cachia, A. Privitera (1), M. Cutajar, M. Fava.

Sirens: N. Imbroll, R. Attard, J. Rizzo Naudi, M. Zammit, C. Cauchi, J. Valletta (4), J.L. Borg (1), D. Cutajar, K. Montfort (4), W. Degiorgio (1), C. Mercieca (2), J. Farrugia (1), N. Cassar (2), A. Tanti.

Refs: A. DeRaffaele, M. Ancilleri.