Blues now vie for Triple Crown
Sliema McDonald's, fresh from their success in the BOV National League that just ended, will be looking to extend their positive streak to the KO competition today and pave the way for a memorable year in local waterpolo that could see the dominant...
Sliema McDonald's, fresh from their success in the BOV National League that just ended, will be looking to extend their positive streak to the KO competition today and pave the way for a memorable year in local waterpolo that could see the dominant Blues making a clean sweep of all three major honours at one go.
Sliema won the Winter League following a decider against Neptunes last April and this summer hit top gear in the straight for home to clinch their 31st league title thanks to a scorching run of six successive wins.
Sergio Afric's team and their boisterous fans celebrated in style last week after winning their last match of the championship at the expense of Sirens Ritter Sport who were then paired with the Blues in the semi-final of the KO that will be played this evening.
Indeed, these are exciting times for the Għar id-Dud club, winners of the double last year and favourites to repeat the same feat this time around.
In all, the Blues won the double on 12 other occasions and the Triple Crown (Winter League, National League and KO) once in 1996.
Sirens were unable to match the skills and technical acumen of Sliema and Neptunes Vodafone this season, finishing fourth behind San Ġiljan Tropicana Juices in the league standings.
The team from St Paul's Bay were beaten three times by the Blues in the league and are now faced with a Herculean task to make inroads in the KO competition which they last won in 2006.
The other semi-final will be played tomorrow as Balluta Bay neighbours San Ġiljan and Neptunes clash for a place in next Sunday's season-ending finale at Tal-Qroqq.
This has been a disappointing year so far for both teams and the KO competition remains the only route for them to savour some success at the end of a long and hard-fought campaign.
Today's programme starts with another semi-final, between Exiles Jet Services and Marsascala, from the Division Two KO competition.
The winners of this tie will take on Marsaxlokk in the final.
Fixtures
Today: Division Two KO SF 6.15 p.m. Marsascala vs Exiles. Division One KO SF 7.30 p.m. Sirens vs Sliema.
Tomorrow: Division One KO SF 7.15 p.m. Neptunes vs San Ġiljan.
Sunday: 5.15 p.m. Division Two KO final. 6.30 p.m. Division One KO final.