Soler inspires Sliema to great recovery

Sliema Burger King 10
(1-3, 2-2, 5-1, 2-1)
Go Mobile Sirens 7

Sliema, once again, drew on their resilient qualities of recovery, largely inspired by John Soler, to pin down Sirens thus pulling away from the northerners and moving to within a point from leaders Neptunes.

The Blues' ability to rally their forces, physically and psychologically, should have been an eye-opener for Sirens who had looked capable in the first sessions of pulling away after taking a 4-1 lead in the second quarter.

But, coach Sergio Afric had a pep talk with his team when they were 5-3 adrift midway through the match and that must have worked wonders as the champions wrought havoc in Sirens' collapsing ranks with Soler netting five goals and a third session which Sliema won 5-1.

Clint Debono put Sliema ahead with Clint Mercieca equalising for Sirens, who then went ahead through Karl Montfort.

The Blues' zone block contrasted with the press put up by Sirens who increased their lead to 3-1 through David Cutajar.

Sirens kept up their clean slate on their third numerical advantage, this time through Jonathan Valletta as Joe Attard's team looked confident at this point.

Sirens' swift treading inside the four-metre zone was breaching the Sliema shield but the champions reduced the arrears through a Soler penalty - a dubious decision - and then bridged the gap further, courtesy of James Falzon. Montfort put his team 5-3 ahead at the half-way mark.

At this point Valletta was perilously hanging on two personal faults and was obviously 'rested'.

Sliema cashed in on this favourable situation to score twice within 30 seconds after the change of ends, the goals coming from Francesco Cutajar and Soler on the break.

Sliema's ploy of rotating their centre, with Cutajar also going in the hole, was yielding results. A shot by David Cutajar was harshly deemed to have crossed the imaginary line amid the strong protests from Sliema's coach Afric. That gave Sirens a 6-5 lead.

But soon Sliema were awarded a penalty which Soler converted and from then on they moved another gear and goals from Paris and again Soler gave them an 8-6 lead.

Sirens were now in tatters and Soler stretched the advantage to 9-6 before Valletta pulled a goal back. Cauchi incredibly missed a man-up, giving Paris the chance to make it 10-7.

Sliema were deservedly home and dry.

Sliema: J. Cachia, J. Falzon (1), E. Aquilina, M. Galea Pace, M. Meli, J. Soler (5), J. Paris (2), K. Engerer, C. Debono (1), F. Cutajar (1), R. Coleiro, I. Muscat, A. Bianchi.

Sirens: J. Caruana Dingli, N. Imbroll, J. Rizzo Naudi, M. Zammit, C. Cauchi, J. Valletta (2), J. Borg, D. Cutajar (2), K. Montfort (1), R. Attard, C. Mercieca (2), J. Farrugia, N. Cassar.

Refs: M. Dalli, F. Brasiliano.

Division Two

Exiles RMF 15
(2-2, 3-0, 4-0, 6-2)
Valletta Utd Fortina SPA 4

Exiles: A. Grech, M. Grima, M. Zarb, D. Pace Lupi (5), T. Sullivan (1), K. Camilleri (1), D. Sullivan, J. Cremona, J.J. Tabone (1), K. Rizzo Naudi (3), A. Arrigo, M. Calleja (1), J. Vella (3).

Valletta: E. Arrigo, G. Sammut, Mauro Camilleri, Marco Camilleri, D. Degiorgio, K. Hyzler (1), A. Galea (1), J.C. Farrugia, D. Shaw, C. Saliba (1), W. Privitera, A. Arrigo, S. Decesare, P. Bonnici, K. Bruno.

Refs: A. DeRaffaele, P. Maurin.

Ta' Xbiex M. Paradise 7
(2-3, 2-0, 2-3, 1-3)
Marsaxlokk Freeport 9

Ta' Xbiex: D. Debono, G. Attard (1), E. Pisani, K. Sciortino, C. D'Ugo (2), A. Fero, J. Zammit, D. Schembri (3), T. Boyd, S. Balzan, P. Paolella (1), C. Sciortino.

Marsaxlokk: R. Bonnici, S. Cachia (2), R. Calleja (1), K. Incorvaja, N. Kerr, C. Bugeja, R. Cutajar (2), G. Ghirxi (1), K. Enriquez, D. Cassar, L. Cachia (2), A. Privitera (1), M. Cutajar, M. Fava.

Refs: M. Caruana, M. Ancilleri.

Next Fixtures

Saturday: 4.30 p.m. Marsaxlokk vs Otters; 5.30 p.m. Exiles vs Ta' Xbiex; 6.30 p.m. Neptunes vs Sirens.

Sunday: 5.30 p.m. San Giljan vs Valletta; 6.30 p.m. Sliema vs Marsascala.