Sliema save blushes late on

Sliema 9
Sirens 6
(3-2, 2-0, 0-2, 4-2)

In yesterday's clash between Sliema McDonald's and Sirens Centro Casalinga, nothing but a win for the northerners was sufficient for Marco Baldinotti's team in order to entertain any hopes of having a say in the destination of this year's league honours.

While the Blues were intent on maintaining their three-point lead at the top of the standings, Sirens' objective was also to wipe out memories of last weekend's heavy defeat at the hands of Neptunes Vodafone.

Sliema's foreign hinges were again two-fold, with Raymond Fodor and Otto Frick dovetailing alongside the team's other heavyweights. Aware of their potential and their heart to relaunch themselves for the top honour, the Għar id-Dud team set about their task of overcoming their opponents as soon as possible.

But Sirens held firm and managed to keep the score on 6-6 till late in the last session at which point the Blues woke up to their responsibilities to make sure of the points with three successive goals.

Play was evenly balanced in the opening session with Sliema's Fodor scoring three times for the team to lead 3-2 at the end of the quarter. A poorly taken penalty by Privitera and another squandered extra-man set from Sirens and Sliema went 5-2 ahead when profitting from two exclusions in their favour.

Ends were changes with Sliema enjoying a three-goal lead.

Sirens scored twice in the third session to reduce the arrears and then equalised on 5-5 at the begininning of the final quarter, with the Blues now opting for press.

Play was still balanced as Valletta scored again to make it 6-5 with Juergen Borg equalising after a mistaken pass by the Blues.

However, Igor Gotchanin's team managed to pull the strings together in those final moments to score three times without reply.

This victory means they are still three points ahead of Neptunes at the top of the standings.

As expected, in Division Two Ta' Xbiex Mermaids Paradise recorded a comfortable victory over Otters in the first match of yesterday's programme.

The result, a foregone conclusion, was, for intents and purposes, rubberstamped early on and sealed emphatically in the end despite Otters' partial comeback when trimming their initial 4-0 deficit to 4-3 in the first session and winning the last 4-2.

But by then it has been easy going for Ta' Xbiex as Jan Surim, Dorian Pisani and Roman Polacik outshone their colleagues in picking their spots.

At least for the generous Gozitans, who never gave up, their defeat was not as heavy as it had been last weekend.

Next fixtures

Friday: U-19 league 5 p.m. Sliema vs Neptunes. Division Two 6.15 p.m. Marsaxlokk vs Exiles. Division One 7.30 p.m. Sirens vs San Ġiljan.

Saturday: U-19 league 4 p.m. Otters vs Sirens. Division Two 5.15 p.m. Marsascala vs Ottes. Division One 6.30 p.m. Neptunes vs Sliema.

Sliema 9
Sirens 6
(3-2, 2-0, 0-2, 4-2)

Sliema J. Cachia, J. Gabaretta, E. Aquilina, R. Fodor 3, M. Meli 1, J. Soler, D. Paolella, J. Brownrigg, C. Debono, J. Valletta 3, J. Falzon, O. Frick 2, R. Coleiro.

Sirens Caprani, R. Mock, T. Galea, P. Privitera 1, A. Babay, P. Zimonjic 1, J. Borg 2, D. Cutajar 1, K. Montfort, R. Scerri, C. Mercieca 1, A. Attard, A. Grech.

Referees: S. Pinato, M. Angilleri.

Ta' Xbiex 14
Otters 8
(5-3, 1-0, 6-1, 2-4)

Ta' Xbiex A. Bianchi, J. Tabone, M. Manara 1, K. Sciortino, K. Engerer, W. Privitera, P. Paolella, R. Polacik 3, G. Desira Buttigieg 1, C. Zammit 1, I. Surim 4, A. Tanti, D. Pisani 4.

Otters R. Grech, D. Saliba, G. Zammit, S. Grech 2, B. Szabo, P. Szabo 4, K. Mizzi, J. Vella, S. Scerri, L. Cachia, T. Simon, M. Tabone 2, E. Farrugia.

Referees: I. Sciriha, M. Dalli.