Sliema repeat dose to claim title

Sliema 9
Neptunes 4
(4-0, 4-3, 0-1, 1-0)

After Saturday's victory over Neptunes Vodafone which forced yesterday's play-off for this year's Winter League title, Sliema McDonald's morale and motivation must have been sky high.

In fact, another flying start earned them the base for a comfortable win which was spearheaded by four-goal John Brownrigg. It was their fourth success in the competition and a good harbinger for this summer's league campaign.

Neptunes, on their part, were not only at a psychological low but were also handicapped by the absence of centre Karl Galea who suffered an injury on Saturday and could not recover in time for yesterday's game.

Within 55 seconds of the start, Sliema punished two elementary errors and were two goals up before further damage was inflicted on the sloppy Reds whose blocking was simply nonexistent.

That pattern prevailed in the second quarter with the Blues going five-up before the Balluta Bay team reduced the arrears.

At 6-1 midway through the second session, the match as a contest was all over even if Neptunes pulled back two goals. But the Blues kept hammering in the goals on the first five numerical advantages they had while the Reds fumbled all theirs.

To make matters worse for Neptunes, Edward Cachia was excluded with substitution for improper conduct towards the referee. John Soler was lucky not to be meted the same punishment as that of Cachia after pushing off an opponent in a brusque way.

The relatively small crowd was hardly enthused by the one-sided nature of the match.

In fact, it was a replica of Saturday's game as the frequency of goals slowed down considerably with only one conversion from Neptunes in the third quarter and a reply from Sliema in the last for a 9-4 final score.

As happened on Saturday, the contest ended before it began, so superior were Sliema. At the end of the match, Edward Muscat Azzopardi, representing BOV, presented the cup to Blues captain Josie Cachia.

Sliema: J. Cachia, M. Spiteri Staines, J. Spiteri Staines, M. Rizzo 1, M. Meli 2, J. Soler 2, D. Paolella, J. Brownrigg 4, C. Debono, J. Valletta, N. Lubrano, M. Cordina, D. Abela.

Neptunes: N. Gouder, N. Lanzon 1, E. Cachia, B. Giorgio, J. Camilleri 1, Z. Mizzi, M. Stellini 1, S. Gravina, R. Sciortino, M. Pisani 1.

Referees: M. Angilleri, P. Balzan.

All-time winners

1994 Neptunes; 1995 San Ġiljan; 1996 Sliema; 1997 Sirens; 1998 Sliema; 1999 Sliema; 2000 Neptunes; 2001 Sirens; 2002 Neptunes; 2003 Neptunes; 2004 Neptunes; 2005 Not held; 2006 Neptunes; 2007 Sirens; 2008 Neptunes; 2009 Sliema.