Neptunes seal league season with impressive win

Neptunes 15
(7-1, 4-1, 2-3, 2-2)
Sliema 7

The final act in the 2006 league campaign had been envisaged as a vibrant contest between sporting rivals Neptunes Vodafone, the new champions, and Sliema Burger King to determine whether the title issue could be extended to a play-off between these giants of local waterpolo.

This possibility fizzled out as the Blues contrived to mess up their game against San Giljan last weekend to toss away the chance of having a go at the title.

Thus from a 'business as usual' colourful duel between the two teams, only the prestige tag could be labelled to this match.

Moreover, the Sliema supporters, who constitute a massive '8th man' for their team, were conspicuous by their absence.

No Blue banner was seen in contrast to the sea of red flags and shirts sporting by the Neptunes faction.

Surely, this was an act which left a scar on the match and defaced the edifice of sport.

In any case, the absence from the Blues' ranks of heavyweights Tibor Benedek and Edward Aquilina, both through suspension, rendered the match a no-contest, especially after Neptunes flew off their blocks impressively to take a massive 7-1 lead in the first session and extend it to 11-2 by the halfway mark.

From their on, Neptunes' task seemed to be accomplished and the Reds just went through the motion of conserving their lead.

Steve Camilleri, Karl Galea and Niki Lanzon, the latter two each scorers of a hat-trick, were in the forefront of their team's victory.

The Blues, applying tight press, tried to redress the imbalance but were easy prey to Neptunes' breaks. The Reds' dominance was evident and Sliema could only play with the intent of avoiding a thrashing defeat.

Neptunes grew a little complacent and this enabled Sliema to net three goals in a row and make it 5-12 after Dubravco Simenc, who is set to retire from the game, scored his first goal.

The Croat made it 13-5 before the last quarter got underway, during which exchanges were only platonic with four goals being shared for a final 15-7 scoreline which had Camilleri and John Soler topping the scorers' list on the day with five goals each.

The Reds captain Lanzon, who had been presented with a bouquet flowers by the Sliema team before the match, then went up for the brand new Wilkinson Sword championship cup presented by Simon Debono, representing the sponsor.

That was followed by celebrations at the pool which were due to continue at the club in Balluta Bay.

Neptunes: N. Gouder, N. Lanzon 3, T. Agius, D. Simenc 2, E. Cachia, J. Brownrigg, S. Camilleri 5, L. Attard, D. Camilleri 1, K. Galea 3, A. Sammut, M. Stellini, M. Pisani 1.

Sliema: R. Coleiro, C. Gialanze, M. Manara, M. Rizzo 1, J. Gabaretta, J. Soler 5, D. Paolella, P. Felice 1, C. Debono, F. Cutajar, J. Spiteri Staines, A. Bianchi, J. Cachia.

Refs: M. Dalli, L. Ceccarelli.

KO Draw

Division One: Semi-finals - Sliema vs Sirens (Wednesday); Neptunes vs San Giljan (Thursday).

Division Two: Preliminary round - Exiles vs Marsaxlokk. Semi-finals - Exiles/Marsaxlokk vs Ta' Xbiex; Marsascala vs Otters.