Sliema, Sirens and Neptunes in easy wins

Sirens Ritter Sport were back to winning ways yesterday when they defeated a disappointing Exiles Jet Services in the second fixture from the morning three-match pro-gramme at Tal-Qroqq.

It was a comprehensive 12-6 victory for Dorian Pisani’s outfit and a welcome reaction by his lads after they had gone down to Neptunes Emirates in their last outing.

Whereas the northerners looked brisk and potent when in possession, Exiles could not raise their game after coming a cropper against San Ġiljan on Thursday, seriously jeopardising their chances of a semi-final berth.

Exiles’ rearguard looked far from solid as Sirens quickly showed their intentions and opened a four-goal advantage by the end of the second session.

That lead was maintained throughout the subsequent quarters and eventually widened, mostly courtesy of their chief scorer Clint Mercieca, author of four goals.

In the first match of the day, Sliema McDonald’s, with a more standard formation in the water, easily disposed of San Ġiljan Firetech who must have en-tertained high hopes of offering the holders a good challenge after their fighting display against Exiles on Thursday when they won with a late goal.

At one point in the third session, the Saints fought back to trim the deficit to 11-8 after they had been seven goals adrift in the second part of the game.

However, Sliema, for whom John Soler scored five goals, re-established some sort of assur-ance to make it 12-8 before the start of the last session.

Despite San Ġiljan’s bold efforts, the Blues’ superiority when unmarking themselves and in the phase of execution was never in doubt and their clear-cut victory reflected this edge.

In the final match of the day, leaders Neptunes were far too strong for Marsascala SolidBase in what could be described as a mis-match.

The disparity between the two teams, especially when the Reds had their regular units in action, was very clear, a six-goal push in the first part of the game was enough to set the pattern of the proceedings.

Marsascala were too frail to offer any resistance.

Tony Camilleri rotated his manjack in the Reds squad, utilising all his younger players in the subsequent sessions. They went on to win 18-6 as Marsascala, with a fuller complement than of late, could not cope with their opponents.

For the record, Niki Lanzon scored his third consecutive double hat-trick.

After today’s match between Neptunes and ASA U-17, the next round of matches will be played on April 16 after the commitment of the youth team in the European Championships for juniors in Kiev, Ukraine (April 7-10).

The last matches will determine the first four places in the table after which there will be semi-final play-offs between the first- and the fourth- and the second- and third-placed teams.

The Winter League is scheduled to come to an end on May 15.

Summaries

Sliema 16
San Ġiljan 10
(5-1, 4-2, 3-5, 4-2)

Sliema: R. Coleiro, M. Spiteri Staines 2, N. Lubrano 2, P. Privitera 1, E. Meli, J. Soler 5, D. Paolella 1, J. Spiteri Staines, C. Debono 2, C. Cluett, M. Rizzo 3, M. Scudamore, D. Abela.

San Ġiljan: D. Camilleri, J.C. Cutajar 1, A. Galea, K. Galea 1, M. Borg Spiteri 3, K. Dowling, L. Grixti, A. Bianchi 1, K. Mock, C. Gialanze, P. Fava 4, M. Fenech, K. Schembri.

Refs: A. De Raffaele, M. Dalli.

Exiles 6
Sirens 12
(1-3, 1-3, 1-1, 3-5)

Exiles: A. Borg Cole, J. Rizzo Naudi 1, K. Rizzo Naudi, D. Pace Lupi 2, T. Sullivan 1, M. Calleja, J. Paris, K. Grixti 2, A. Zarb Cousin, S. Cini, S. Vassallo, D. Borg, K. Lanzon.

Sirens: J. Sammut, A. Attard, P. Micallef, P. Borg 3, A. Sammut, R. Mock 1, J. Borg, D. Cutajar 1, C. Zammit 1, L. Caruana, D. Zammit 2, C. Mercieca 4.

Refs: M. Angilleri, S. Licari.

Neptunes 18
Marsascala 6
(6-0, 4-2, 4-1, 4-3)

Neptunes: I. Bugeja, N. Lanzon 6, E. Aquilina 2, M. Stellini 2, Z. Mizzi, K. Debattista, J. Camilleri 4, T. Agius 1, B. Buhagiar 2, S. Gravina, G. Pace 1, B. Lanzon, M. Pisani.

Marsascala: S. Farrugia, C. Spiteri de Barro 3, D. Caruana, K. Navarro, K. Galea, B. Plumpton, J. Licari 1, J. Cremona, S. Micallef, R. Scerri 1, D. Cassar 1, O. Zammit, E. Arrigo.

Refs: P. Giordano, M. Dalli.