Neptunes 16
San Giljan 12
(4-3, 3-4, 3-1, 6-4)

Only pride was at stake in yesterday's match between Neptunes Vodafone and San Giljan Tropicana, a clash that brought down the curtain on the 2009 league season.

With all the minor placings already known, the match only served as a prelude to the knock-out semi-final between the same two teams on Thursday. The resultant quiet atmosphere which prevailed before the match was therefore understandable.

In a nutshell, Neptunes succeeded in wearing down their opponents' resistance as Leonardo Sottani's nap-hand of goals, most of which were on timely breaks, revived the memories of his early form for the Reds.

San Giljan, with Jugoslav Vasovic back in the side to the exclusion of Federico Pagani, were equal to their opponents in the first two sessions. But, as was the case in the previous match against Neptunes, they failed to last the pace and the result was already sealed between the third and fourth sessions.

In a high-scoring first quarter, Neptunes showed better cohesion when on the break as they netted twice on this ploy.

The Saints had led three times through goals by Boris Popovic, twice, and Vasovic. The Reds' goals came from Aliosa Kunac, Steve Camilleri, Michele Stellini and Sottani.

On 5-3 down, after Matthew Pisani had netted for Neptunes, the Saints reacted strongly and goals from Matthew Zammit, Kayne Lanzon and Vasovic gave them a 6-5 lead, before Steve Camilleri scored twice on either side of the goal netted by Popovic to make it 7-7 at the half-way stage.

San Giljan now started showing signs of fatigue and Neptunes could have scored more than the three they netted had they taken most of their chances on the break.

Nevertheless, Sottani, Cachia and Kunac helped them open a two-goal lead at the end of the session after Vasovic had momentarily made it 8-8.

With the Saints not accurate with their shots and Neptunes thriving on the break, Sottani's two goals sandwiched that of Pisani for a 13-8 advantage early in the last session.

This, all but put the Reds' minds at rest even if two goals by Borg Spiteri and Bianchi made it 13-10 with two minutes left.

Sottani reached his five goals before Zammit reduced the arrears. Kunac and Lanzon made it 16-11 with Anthony Borda scoring the last goal of the summer league season.

Neptunes: N. Gouder, N. Lanzon 1, B. Giorgio, K. Galea, E. Cachia 1, R. Sciortino, S. Camilleri 3, J. Camilleri, A. Kunac 3, S. Gravina, L. Sottani 5, M. Stellini 1, M. Pisani 2.

San Giljan: K. Schembri, C. Spiteri de Barro, C. Gialanze, B. Popovic 3, M. Borg Spiteri 1, M. Zammit 2, P. Fava, A. Bianchi 1, M. Pace, A. Borda 1, J. Vasovic 3, D. Camilleri, K. Lanzon 1.

Referees: A. DeRaffaele, A. Pascucci.

Division Two KO

By virtue of this victory over Otters Nivea, Marsascala earned the right to meet Exiles in Wednesday's semi-final. Unfortunately, an incident in which a spectator allegedly insulted the Otters players held up play for about 10 minutes after the Gozitan team's officials objected to his behaviour.

Eventually, play resumed and the person involved was later arrested by the police who arrived some minutes later.

Marsascala 15
Otters 8
(4-3, 3-1, 3-1, 5-3)

Marsascala: I. Bugeja, P. Borg, C. Cutajar, M. Borg, G. Ghirxi, L. Grixti, J. Licari 2, J. Cremona 2, S. Micallef 1, R. Cutajar 1, S. Botond 5, G. Suti 4, S. Farrugia.

Otters: R. Grech, D. Saliba, S. Scerri, S. Grech 2, S. Dimech 1, P. Szabo, K. Mizzi, K. Baco 2, C. Martin 1, L. Cachia 1, A. Arrigo 1, C. Saliba, E. Farrugia.

Referees: P. Giordano, M. Dalli.

Next fixtures

Wednesday: Division Two KO SF 6.15 p.m. Marsascala vs Exiles. Division One KO SF 7.30 p.m. Sirens vs Sliema.

Thursday: Division One KO SF 7.15 p.m. Neptunes vs San Giljan.

Sunday: 5.15 p.m. Division Two KO final. 6.30 p.m. Division One KO final.