In a match which could give a lasting indication as to which team would finish out of the play-offs series, 3CX Exiles were left rooted to the bottom of the table after going down to Sliema McDonald’s 11-6.

This result put the Blues back to winning groove and underlined their clinical superiority resulting from timely breaks. Exiles could do little except for Marco Cuk’s four opportunistic goals.

The Blues took a 4-1 lead in the opening quarter, marked by two controversial decisions.

The first when an aggressive feud between John Soler and Julian Rizzo Naudi went unnoticed and the second when Exiles were denied a clear corner which was immediately followed up by Sliema’s fourth goal on the break.

With Michael Spiteri Staines back in Sliema’s start-list, the team guided by Sergio Afric showed the better brand of play. However, the partial score in the next session was locked on two goals apiece with Sliema leading 6-3 by the half-way stage.

The absence of John Paris, for Exiles, for the second successive game was of no consequence as Exiles played second fiddle to Sliema whose advantage was widened by another goal in the third session. They started the last with a 9-5 cushion.

Exiles looked bankrupt of ideas in the last part of the game and this enabled the Blues to cruise to a comfortable victory which put them back to third place in the table.

By virtue of their massive victory over Ta’ Xbiex yesterday, Marsascala meat.com made sure they will finish at the top of the standings and eventually contest the three-match series of play-offs against the second-placed team for the Division Two title.

After conceding an early goal, the league leaders took matters in hand to open a 6-2 advantage after the first session.

Ta’ Xbiex were reduced to tatters in the next quarter after being repeatedly caught napping.

They again suffered six goals to the three they scored as ends were shifted with Ta’ Xbiex 5-12 behind.

A 4-4 third session scoreline kept the deficit to seven goals as Claudio Spiteri de Barro and Milos Koralji, at one end, and Yuri Szeles at the other, kept netting the goals.

The last session confirmed the southenders ascendancy as they won it 8-1 for a final 24-10 result.

Euro Championship
Preliminary Round draw: Germany vs Malta; Greece vs Slovakia; France vs Macedonia; Russia vs Spain; Georgia vs Romania; Slovenia vs Turkey.
First legs: October 1. Second legs: October 29.

Summaries

Ta’ Xbiex 10
Marsascala 24
(2-6, 3-6, 4-4, 1-8)

Ta’ Xbiex: L. Borg, B. Muscat, S. Vassallo 1, C. Cluett 1, D. Borg, J.C. Decelis, T. Gyrovath 1, E. Bonello 2, M. Cordina, C. Saliba, R. Attard, M. Saliba, Y. Szeles 5.

Marsascala: E. Arrigo, C. Spiteri de Barro 6, M. Pace 1, Milos Koralji 6, D. Caruana 1, S. Farrugia, J. Licari 5, J. Cremona 2, S. Micallef 1, R. Scerri, D. Cassar, O. Zammit, Mih. Koralji 2.

Referees: Alex DeRaffaele and Peter Balzan.

Exiles 6
Sliema 11
(1-4, 2-2, 2-3, 1-2)

Exiles: A. Borg Cole, J. Rizzo Naudi, K. Rizzo Naudi 1, D. Pace Lupi, T. Sullivan 1, M. Calleja, M. Cuk 4, K. Grixti, A. Zarb Cousin, A. Cousin, N. Portelli, A. Sciberras, K. Lanzon.

Sliema: R. Coleiro, N. Bonello Ghio, N. Lubrano 1, R. Fodor 1, M. Meli 3, J. Soler 3, D. Paolella 1, M. Spiteri Staines, C. Debono 1, M. Rizzo, B. Rath 1, J. Spiteri Staines, D. Abela.

Referees: M. Angilleri and A. Pascucci.

Standings

Division One







P W D L F A Pts
Neptunes 4 4 0 0 69 41 17
San Ġiljan 5 4 0 1 58 50 14
Sliema 5 2 0 3 53 53 9
Sirens 5 2 0 3 52 62 7
Exiles 5 0 0 5 47 73 0
Division Two







P W D L F A Pts
Marsascala 4 4 0 0 65 33 14
Valletta 4 2 1 1 40 40 10
Ta’ Xbiex 4 1 1 2 45 63 5
Otters 4 0 0 4 40 54 2

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