Sliema turn on the heat against Exiles

Sliema McDonald’s put their dis-appointing outing in the KO final against Neptunes on the sidelines yesterday when disposing of Exiles Ferretti decisively after having dominated for long swathes.

The 19-12 scoreline says it all.

The Blues were spearheaded by Hungarian Ferenc Salamon in terms of goals. However, they put in a fine team effort despite the absence of two influential players.

Sliema were also helped by a rock-solid defence and several opportunistic goals.

Exiles had little answer to their opponents’ game-plan to the extend that Sliema’s victory was as good as over by the end of the second quarter.

Sliema profited from a spate of expulsions in their favour to take a 4-2 lead by the end of the first session. That advantage was further extended to 9-5 at the half-way stage as Salamon showed what stuff he is made of when he picked his spot no fewer than five times including two penalties, a tally which was extended to seven goals.

Exiles were punished time and again on personal faults and were looking jaded despite their gallant effort against opponents who had Jerome Gabaretta and Paul Privitera missing.

The absence of a left-hander for Exiles, besides that of long-term casualty Karl Rizzo Naudi, had a telling effect on their game.

Exiles’ profligacy on man-ups did not help matters either.

Eight goals shared in the third session maintained Sliema’s four-goal lead before their steamrolling finish sealed the issue.

For the record, the Blues had four players fouled out towards the end to Exiles’ two. That made little difference though.

Earlier, an exciting Division One game, which produced a bagful of goals, was resolved in favour Valletta Sterling at the expense of Otters Nivea on a 16-14 score.

Both teams confirmed that the gap between them is minimal as the City side recovered from a 4-5 ad-verse score in the first session to win the second 6-1 and take a 10-6 lead by mid-point.

Otters also staged a comeback when winning the third quarter 5-2 and reduce the deficit to 12-11.

It was touch and go in the last session with Otters levelling matters three times and making it 14-all with two minutes left.

But, goals by veterans Anthony Galea and four-goal Milos Koralji sealed the issue in favour of Valletta, for whom David Zoltan netted five times.

Summaries

Otters 14
Valletta 16
(5-4, 1-6, 5-2, 3-4)

Otters: A. Cachia, G. Attard 1, G. Zammit, Z. Radocz 3, S. Dimech, M. Balatoni 2, J. Paris 2, D. Schembri 2, K. Scicluna, K. Debattista 1, C. Martin 1, E. Farrugia, K. Grima Scott 2.

Valletta: A. Sammut, J. Meli 1, R. Calleja, A. Galea 1, T. Agius 3, S. Cachia 1, A. Galea, M. Koralji 4, J.C. Farrugia, D. Zoltan 5, A. Arrigo 1, E. Arrigo, K. Hyzler.

Refs: I. Sciriha, A. DeRaffaele.

Sliema 19
Exiles 12
(4-2, 5-3, 4-4, 6-3)

Sliema: I. Gergelj, C. Cluett 1, N. Lubrano 2, M. Agius, M. Meli 3, J. Soler 1, D. Paolella, J. Brownrigg 3, C. Debono, F. Salamon 7, M. Rizzo 2, M. Spiteri Staines, R. Coleiro.

Exiles: A. Borg Cole, J. Rizzo Naudi 1, M. Paris, D. Pace Lupi 2, T. Sullivan 3, S. Vassallo, J. Spiteri Staines 1, K. Grixti, S. Galea Pace, P. Borg 1, A. Kunac 2, M. Toth 2, K. Lanzon.

Refs: M. Angilleri, R. Colombo.

Premier Division

Division One

Next fixtures
Tomorrow: 18.00 Otters vs Ta’ Xbiex; 19.15 Neptunes vs Sirens.
Saturday: 18.00 Valletta vs Marsascala; 19.15 Sliema vs San Ġiljan.