Race for semi-final slots hots up

BOV Winter League holders Sliema McDonald’s are faced with a must-win situation when facing San Ġiljan Firetech tomorrow to make sure they book one of the four semi-final slots, avoiding any major shocks at this round-robin stage of the competition.

The Blues only managed one victory from three outings so far, against Marsascala Solidbase, as they lost to Sirens Ritter Sport and drew their match against leaders Neptunes Emirates.

That left Sergio Afric’s team hanging perilously in fifth place in the standings on four points, the same as Exiles Jet Services who the Blues play in the last match before the knock-out phase on April 16.

Afric is looking to introduce new faces in his squad this year and the Sliema U-15 triumph this week in the winter junior tournament must have infused fresh enthusiasm inside his club.

Sliema warmed up for tomorrow’s match with a 13-7 win over ASA U-17 on Thursday but on the same day San Ġiljan showed their true mettle in a last-gasp 9-8 win over Exiles to close in on a place in the semi-finals.

Exiles will have to make up for that upset with a win over Sirens tomorrow to stay in contention but that will be no easy task for Joe Caruana Dingli’s men as the team from St Paul’s Bay seem to have found new vigour under the charge of Dorian Pisani.

Victory for Sirens will see them through to the semi-finals but any other result would mean a tight finale and a hot race to avoid the fifth place in the standings.

At the moment, only a miracle will see bottom-placed Marsascala joining the semi-finals line-up and their fate will most probably be sealed tomorrow when they play the unbeaten Neptunes, so far the only team sure of their place in the last four.

On Thursday, Neptunes handed Sirens their first defeat after beating them 15-12 in a fast-flowing match that saw the Reds making sure with three goals inside the last 85 seconds.

After this round of matches, the BOV Winter League will observe a short break for the ASA U-17 team to play in a LEN qualifying tournament in Ukraine, between April 7 and 10.