With three out of four teams making their league debut yesterday, the outcome was very much as expected even if Sirens Ritter Sport managed a hard-earned victory over Exiles Jet Services.

The St Paul's Bay team were spearheaded by seven-goal Hungarian Tamas Varga whose elusive skills and clinical shooting found no answer from an otherwise battling Exiles who only surrendered in the last three minutes.

In fact, Exiles led for most of the proceedings and it was only in the latter part of the third session that Sirens nosed ahead for the first time.

Still, it was tit-for-tat and goals were traded at either end with Exiles edging in front again with less than three minutes left on the clock.

But two quick goals from the useful Clint Mercieca, who netted a hat-trick, were complimented by a further brace from Varga as Sirens finally looked relieved.

In the second match, San Ġiljan Firetech scored a comfortable 18-7 victory over a largely-refurbished Ta' Xbiex Mermaids Paradise who could only offer some sort of resistance until midway through the second session when they were just two goals adrift on 5-3.

However, the Saints, without the temporarily suspended Matthew Zammit, started firing in the goals, particularly through their German signing Heiko Nossek who helped himself to six conversions.

At the end of the day, the result reflected the disparity between the two teams, with Marco Manara's outfit not quite staying the pace despite their bold game-plan.

Summaries

Sirens 13
Exiles 10
(2-3, 4-4, 2-1, 5-2)

Sirens: J. Sammut, A. Attard, L. Caruana, P. Borg 2, J. Spiteri Staines, R. Mock, T. Varga 7, D. Cutajar, J. Borg, C. Zammit, Y. Vasovic 1, D. Zammit, C. Mercieca 3, E. Arrigo, J. Cremona.

Exiles: A. Borg Cole, J. Rizzo Naudi 1, K. Rizzo Naudi 1, C. Bonca 2, T. Sullivan, M. Calleja, J. Paris 1, K. Grixti, J. Fenech, A. Cousin 3, S. Vassallo, S. Cini, K. Lanzon 2, A. Cachia.

Referees: M. Dalli, M. Angilleri.

San Ġiljan 18
Ta' Xbiex 7
(5-3, 2-0, 6-3, 5-1)

San Ġiljan: D. Camilleri, C. Spiteri de Barro 1, M. Pace 1, K. Galea, C. Gialanze 1, K. Dowling, H. Nossek 6, A. Bianchi, E. Aquilina 3, R. Scerri, P. Fava 2, M. Toth 4, K. Schembri, A. Borda, K. Galea.

Ta' Xbiex: N. Xuereb, S. Cachia, D. Caruana, A. Farrugia, G. Lubrano, C. Bugeja, J. Tabone 1, E. Bonello, D. Gabriel 1, A. Galea 2, I. Azzopardi, M. Spiteri, T. Gyrovath 3.

Referees: P. Balzan, R. Spiteri.

Next matches

Tomorrow - 5 p.m. Sliema vs Ta' Xbiex; 6.15 p.m. Neptunes vs Marsascala.