San Ġiljan and Sliema McDonald’s easily disposed of Otters and Marsascala respectively yesterday as another two matches from the BOV League preliminary round were played at the National Pool.
The Saints found little opposition when facing the Gozitan team and their comfortable margin of victory, 26-8, was true of their superiority in a match in which they kept piling up the goals.
A close first session, which saw Otters edging it by the odd goal in nine, gave little indication of the final outcome. But San Ġiljan took complete control from the second session onwards and their dominance helped them to a goal spree.
In the first session, Otters gave their more illustrious opponents a lesson in how to convert chances into goal when enjoying numerical advantage. Karl Izzo’s side lost their first man-up but Otters scored three on three to nose in front.
That all changed in the second session when San Ġiljan netted eight times in quick succession leaving Otters stranded on 12-7.
San Ġiljan were in total command and four further goals by Nikola Sutic (he netted nine in all) helped his team seal an easy win.
In the second match, Sliema breached a poor Marsascala at every time of asking in the opening session to open an 8-1 advantage.
By the half-way mark, it was already double figures for Sergio Afric’s side as their lead was stretched to 12-3.
Milos Koralji’s superb backhand – which had little influence on the result – was the only noteworthy episode for Pierre Borg’s southerners whose energies were draining fast.
Although goals in the third session by John Licari, Joseph Cremona and Ranier Scerri put some respectability in the scoreline, Sliema maintained their scoring rate to start the last session 17-6.
The Blues had some new faces in the water, including reserve goalkeeper David Abela, as Afric started rotating his substitutions but stuck to his experienced core players.
John Soler reached his hat-trick, Vincze Balazs netted four times and Bogdan Rath completed his nap-hand of goals in the last session.
Summaries
San Ġiljan 26
Otters 8
(4-5, 8-2, 8-1, 6-0)
San Ġiljan: K. Schembri, J. Cutajar (2), N. Sutic (9), K. Galea (1), F. Trajkovic (5), K. Dowling (2), L. Grixti (1), A. Bianchi (4), M. Borg Spiteri, C. Gialanze, P. Fava (1), A. Galea (1), A. Borda.
Otters: J. Cremona, G. Attard, G. Zammit, Z. Radocz (3), D. Schembri (1), A. Maklari (3), K. Scicluna, S. Dimech, J Buttigieg, G. Tabone, C. Martin, P. Martin, K. Grima Scott (1).
Referees: A. DeRaffaele, M. Angilleri.
Marsascala 7
Sliema 23
(8-1, 4-2, 5-3, 6-1)
Marsascala: S. Farrugia, C Spiteri de Barro, D. Caruana, B. Plumpton, M. Pace, M. Koralji (1), J. Licari (4), J. Cremona (1), S. Micallef, R. Scerri (1), D. Cassar, O. Zammit, E. Arrigo.
Sliema: R. Coleiro, J. Gabaretta (1), N. Lubrano, P. Privitera (2), J. Spiteri Staines (4), J. Soler (3), D. Paolella (1), J. Brownrigg, C. Debono (2), M. Spiteri Staines (1), V. Balazs (4), B. Rath (5), D. Abela.
Referees: P. Balzan, P. Giordano.