The first honour of the 2010 season will be assigned this evening when Sliema McDonald's and Neptunes Emirates face each other in the final of the BOV Winter League at the National Pool.

This year, the Aquatic Sports Association has looked to revamp this competition by introducing a new format. After the preliminary round, where all teams faced each other in a round-robin format, the top four figured in two play-off semi-finals instead of the traditional mini-league.

The change in format, however, failed to break the stranglehold of Sliema and Neptunes on this competition as for the second successive season they will be facing each other in the decisive match to determine a winner.

Last year, Sliema beat Neptunes on the final day of the tournament to force a decider.

The Blues went on to clinch the honour when they beat the team from Balluta Bay 9-4. It was Sliema's fourth Winter League title.

Today, Neptunes will be keen to reassert their dominance on a competition they won a record seven times. This year, they will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2009 which saw their fierce rivals complete a clean sweep of the major honours.

Sliema had a comfortable passage to the final when, inspired by the scoring prowess of Paul Privitera and John Soler, who both clinched a hat-trick, they breezed past Sirens 9-6.

Difficult match

Neptunes had to sweat though as they just managed to edge past neighbours San Ġiljan Firetech 7-6. Tony Camilleri's Reds had to rely on all their experienced players to keep out a bold Saints' rally that saw the latter falling short of their goal after squandering a series of man-up sets in favour.

Meanwhile, San Ġiljan and Sirens will open today's programme when they meet in the play-off for third place at 3 p.m.

No big prize will be at stake here but victory would mean a morale booster ahead of the National Championships which start next month.

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