Neptunes Emirates were again at it yesterday as their goal-machine got going against San Ġiljan Firetech. The margin of victory mirrored their clear edge which had the Reds building a 12-2 lead towards the latter part of the third session, thus making sure of the spoils.

With centre Tamas Molnar very often drawing double attention, Neptunes exploited the space they were allowed on the outside position to take matters into their own hands before easing off and allow coach Sergey Markoch to make use of more units in his squad.

Neptunes could also afford to go casual towards the end, especially on man-up sets but at the final whistle they were more than comfortable winners.

They kick-started strongly to take a five-goal advantage.

Neptunes' swimming on the flanks and crisp transfer of the ball found no response from the Saints who had Keith Schembri replacing Dean Camilleri in goal for the first two sessions.

There was more effortless swimming from Neptunes in the next session as they increased their lead by two further goals before their opponents responded for the first time through Karl Galea.

But, the ever-dependable Niki Lanzon and goal-ace Steve Camilleri increased that advantage to 9-1 with two quarters to go.

San Ġiljan refused to buckle and managed to share eight goals in the third session as Edward Aquilina picked his spot four times. But the 13-5 scoreline was too gaping for them.

The last session of the match was only academic with the superior Neptunes managing to extend their advantage to a clear nine goals and end on a 17-8 scoreline.

Marsascala take revenge

Marsascala Solid Base Engineering avenged their surprise 13-9 defeat to leaders Otters Nivea in the earlier round of the championship when they overwhelmed their Gozitan opponents by a nine-goal margin yesterday, thus opening hopes for the title.

After taking an early 5-1 advantage, Marsascala saw their opponents closing the gap to 7-6 before Otters conceded their eighth goal before ends were changed.

But the third quarter proved to be the turning point as Anthony Farrugia's team exploited their speed and better shooting to win the session 6-2 and put the issue beyond doubt with Milos Koralji bringing up his goal-tally to six in the last session.

Summaries

Marsascala 20
Otters 11
(5-3, 3-3, 6-2, 6-3)

Marsascala: R. Sciortino, J.C. Cutajar, B. Szabo 3, L. Grixti 1, M. Borg Spiteri 3, M. Koralji 6, J. Licari 3, J. Cremona 2, S. Micallef 2, T. Agius, D. Cassar, G. Pace, S. Farrugia.

Otters: A. Sciberras, G. Attard, G. Zammit, Z. Radocz 2, C. Saliba, D. Schembri 1, S. Dimech, K. Bako 3, K. Scicluna 1, M. Buttigieg 1, C. Martin, O. Zammit 2, K. Grima Scott 1.

Referees: R. Spiteri, P. Giordano.

Neptunes 17
San Ġiljan 8
(5-0, 4-1, 4-4, 4-3)

Neptunes: N. Gouder, N. Lanzon 2, K. Debattista, M. Stellini 2, D. Camilleri 1, V. Vujasinovic 1, S. Camilleri 4, J. Camilleri 1, R. Buhagiar, S. Gravina, T. Molnar 5, M. Pisani 1, I. Bugeja.

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

Referees: I. Sciriha, G. Centineo.

Next fixtures

Friday: 6 p.m. Marsascala vs Marsaxlokk; 7.15 p.m. San Ġiljan vs Sirens.

Saturday: 5 p.m. Ta' Xbiex vs Otters; 6.15 p.m. Neptunes vs Sliema.