Slick Sliema start favourites

Following the completion of the first phase of this year's Winter League, which came to a close earlier this month, Sliema McDonald's look to be in pole position to claim the pre-season title after four successive victories and a 56-goal glut that propelled them to the top position and a 100 per cent record before the semi-finals.

This evening Sliema will be looking to book a place in next week's final by eliminating Sirens Hard Rock Cafe, the 2007 Winter League champions, from the scene in the opening match.

The Balluta Bay derby, between Neptunes Vodafone and San Ġiljan, will be up next in the other semi-final.

Sliema showed their strength right from the opening match of the tournament when on April 5 they beat Sirens 11-7.

Under the expert guidance of Peter Decesare, the Blues went on to win their next three matches - vs Exiles 14-6; Neptunes 14-6 and San Ġiljan 17-5. All scores amply testify to Sliema's dominance over their opponents so far in the competition.

Sirens finished fourth in the standings and only earned a semi-final berth on the very last day of the round-robin phase when they beat the valiant Exiles 9-8.

Like Sirens, Neptunes also had a low-key performance so far.

Indeed, these are still early days but one would have expected the Reds to show better quality, particularly in matches which they were expected to win convincingly.

San Ġiljan are the outsiders in the semi-finals. They gave Neptunes a good run for their money in their last clash but their best was still not enough as the Saints lost 10-8.