The two semi-finals from this year’s BOV Winter League will be played this evening at the National Pool.

Neptunes Emirates were the only team to avoid defeat in the round-robin phase but it was Sirens Ritter Sport who topped the standings after winning four of their five matches with the Reds settling for second place that produced a tough pairing with holders Sliema McDonald’s.

In fact, today’s opening match will see the derby antagonists clashing for a second time after the March 13 draw (9-9).

With three points awarded for each win, the new rule meant drawn matches are of little benefit in terms of classification as Nep-tunes figured in another stalemate (vs Exiles, 10-10).

Sliema failed to sparkle so far with coach Sergio Afric following the trend of other mentors as he handed more playing time to his fringe players.

However, a late push was good enough for Sliema to book a berth in the last-four.

Sirens will be all out to break the Sliema-Neptunes dominance in local waterpolo. Their opponents today will be San Ġiljan Firetech who finished fourth.

The corresponding group match between these two sides went Sirens’ way 8-6.

The best-of-three final gets underway on Wednesday.

On that day, Exiles Jet Services and Marsascala Solidbase will contest the match for the platonic fifth place.