Neptunes cruise as Valletta stun Exiles

Neptunes Emirates started their title defence with a comfortable victory over Ta’ Xbiex ASC while Valletta marked their return to competitive waterpolo with a stunning victory over Exiles.

In yesterday’s opener, Neptunes were made up of new faces including the return of Steve Camilleri and Hungarian Tamas Molnar. They were joined by new recruits Montenegrin Vladimir Gojkovic, Ryan Sciortino, from Sliema, and Zack Mizzi, formerly of Exiles.

In the opening sessions, Neptunes relied on Camilleri’s scoring instincts as he netted four goals. The 6-1 scoreline by the end of session one induced Sergei Markoc to draft Molnar in lieu of Camilleri.

And when the Hungarian was in the water he scored three goals to give his team a comfortable 9-1 lead before Camilleri was back in the fray for the last part of the session to score again.

Neptunes led 13-1 before ends were changed, but they still stuck to their more-established men, with Camilleri and Molnar playing together alongside Vladmir Gojkovic.

The longer the game went the more of a training spin it became for the champions as Ta’ Xbiex could never stop their sharper opponents from cruising to a comfortable win.

In the second match, Valletta, marshalled by Robert Kovacs and Adam Decker came from behind to kill off Exiles’ aspirations after winning the final session 5-1.

Valletta have banked on a nucleus of players of Marsaxlokk namely, Decker, Giorgio Sammut and Alan Arrigo but the squad included also former Neptunes player Timothy Agius and Sebastian Cini who was facing his former side.

In the first session, Exiles appeared to have a better cutting edge with Marco Cuk posing threats with his shooting, netting two goals in the process as they took a 4-2 lead after a temporary equaliser by the Citizens.

Joe Caruana Dingli’s side appeared to be well in control as they surged to a 7-4 lead before the teams’ changing ends.

But Valletta recovered admirably. First they held on to a balanced 2-2, only for Anthony Farrugia’s side to run into full throttle in the final session to turn a 6-9 deficit to an 11-10 advantage.

Inspired by some excellent goalkeeping from Andrea Sammut, the Citizens managed to turn the result in their favour through goals from Kovacs and Decker.

Neptunes 23
Ta’ Xbiex 4
(7-1, 6-0, 5-1, 5-2)

Neptunes: I. Bugeja, N. Lanzon 2, E. Aquilina 1, M. Stellini 1, J. Camilleri 2, Z. Mizzi 1, S. Camilleri 8, V. Gojkovic 1, B. Buhagiar, S. Gravina, R. Sciortino, T. Molnar 7, M. Pisani.

Ta’ Xbiex: L. Borg, D. Muscat, S. Vassallo, C. Cluett 1, D. Borg, J. Decelis, T. Gyurovah 1, E. Bonello, M. Cordina, M. Agius, R. Attard, M. Spiteri 1, Y. Szeles 1.

Referees: R. Spiteri, S. Licari.

CX Exiles 10
Valletta Dhalia 11
(4-2, 3-2, 2-2, 1-5)

Exiles: A. Borg Cole, J. Rizzo Naudi 2, K. Rizzo Naudi, D. Zammit Lupi, T. Sullivan 1, M. Calleja, M. Cuk 4, K. Griscti, N. Portelli, A. Cousin 3, J. Paris, A. Sciberras, K. Lanzon.

Valletta: A. Sammut, A. Decker 3, K. Hyzler, C. Bonello, G. Sammut 3, S. Cachia 1, A. Galea, K. Micallef 2, R. Kovacs 1, S. Cini 1, A. Arrigo, G. Ghirxi, T. Agius.

Referees: P. Balzan, P. Giordano.