If Neptunes Emirates flew above the clouds in their carrier when they wrested the league title from Sliema McDonald’s over a week ago, the Blues this time were on cloud nine, bringing their opponents down to earth after a battling 13-11 victory which regales them a record fourth successive cup win and their 25th success in the KO competition.
The match, played in front of another bumper crowd, was a stirring contest. No matter how equipped these two great sporting rivals are, they rarely fail to charge their batteries fully when they face each other.
Yesterday, the Blues had theirs charged to the maximum, with their engine firing on all pistons, especially that of the splendid Jerome Gabaretta, scorer of five great goals.
The team moved well as a unit and had a better scoring rate on numerical superiority. They blasted ahead on 6-2 at one point in the second session, but then contained Neptunes’ fightback which also saw the Reds forging ahead on 10-9 with almost three minutes left.
But, Sliema again bounced back with a vengeance and in the end ran out deserved winners.
After some unproductive probings at both ends, Neptunes drew first blood but almost on the stroke of time Gabaretta equalised.
Michele Stellini made it 2-1 soon after the second session got underway but in no time the Blues sprang to life as the Reds went into sleep mode.
At this point Sliema netted five times in succession for a 6-2 lead, their goals coming from Gabaretta (2), John Brownrigg, Bogdan Rath and Mark Meli.
There was a small dose of relief for the yellow-carded Sergey Markoch as his team managed to cut the deficit to 6-4 when netting on their third and fourth man-ups after missing their first two.
Sliema’s statistics in this respect had been two goals from two similar sets.
The Blues’ tight marking was intended to frustrate their opponents but the match was almost back on balanced lines as Jordan Camilleri soon made it 6-5 after the second restart. The battle wore on with Sliema fluffing their first man-up only to eventually miss another throughout the match.
The contest stalled in terms of goals. In the meantime, the referees noted some inexplicable attacker fouls which resulted in turnovers, episodes which did not go down well with both sides.
Goals were then traded in alternate fashion as Paul Privitera and Gabaretta, for Sliema, and Niki Lanzon and Stellini, for Neptunes, scored the goals.
Both teams had been sitting tight at the back, but Gabaretta again managed to break his opponents’ defensive line for a 9-8 Sliema lead after Steve Camilleri had equalised.
It was a momentous last session now, as the Blues showed better nerves to shade past tense opponents, especially through their better man-up statistics.
The Camilleri brothers were both excluded on three personal faults in this session as was Clint Debono some time before. Goals by Soler (2), Rath and Aliosa Kunac brought up the tally to 13 with Tamas Molnar, Stellini and Vladimir Vujasinovic scoring in between.
But the match was a personal triumph for hero Gabaretta.
At the end of the proceedings, Peter Perotti, chief officer BOV, presented the cup to Sliema captain Debono.
The joyous Blues’ clan went on to celebrate their latest cup triumph.
Neptunes 11
Sliema 13
(1-1, 3-5, 3-2, 4-5)
Neptunes: N. Gouder, N. Lanzon 3, B. Lanzon, M. Stellini 2, D. Camilleri, V. Vujasinovic 1, S. Camilleri 2, J. Camilleri 1, B. Buhagiar, S. Gravina, I. Bugeja, T. Molnar 2, M. Pisani.
Sliema: R. Coleiro, J. Gabaretta 5, N. Lubrano, P. Privitera 1, M. Meli 1, J. Soler 2, M. Spiteri Staines, J. Brownrigg 1, C. Debono, A. Kunac 1, M. Rizzo, B. Rath 2, D. Abela.
Refs: P. Balzan, D. De Meo.