Despite suffering a spate of 17 expulsions, mainly resulting from their aggressive marking, Sliema Frank Salt Real Estate had enough know-how and fuel in their tank to ease past Sirens Ritter Sport, yesterday.
For most of the proceedings, Sliema’s advantage may not have been emphatic but their superiority suggested that cruise control was enough to give them a clear victory.
Sliema took a 3-0 lead inside the first five minutes only to concede two goals before they made it 4-2.
Peter Decesare’s efficient side opened a 9-3 lead in the second session but Sirens hit back with two goals before Sliema made it 10-5 at the long interval.
At this point, Sliema were practically sure of the points. They won the next quarter 3-2 as John Soler and Jerome Gabarretta reached their hat-tricks with Gergely Kiss already on four.
As often is the case, the last session was a mere formality with Sliema coasting home 19-9 winners as Gabarretta and Kiss headed their team’s scoring list with five goals each.
In an exciting Division One match, played earlier in the evening, an improved Otters Nivea beat Marsascala Mor€ 12-11 with the shining light for the Gozitan team being Ivan Vuk-sanovic, scorer of eight goals.
Vuksanovic netted three times in the opening session to give Otters a clear lead but the Southerners made up ground to change ends in arrears by one goal after winning the second quarter 5-4.
Early in the third session, Mar-sascala scored twice to take an 8-7 lead for the first time. John Licari netted his third goal but in between a brace scored by Vuk-sanovic levelled the score.
Vuksanovic made it 10-9 before Liam Grixti equalised for Marsa-scala on 10-all.
But Christoff Martin came into the limelight late in the game with two goals for Otters before the well-shadowed Joseph Keyes reduced the deficit to 12-11, 86 seconds from time.
The Gozitans, however, held out for a hard-earned victory.
Summaries
Marsaxlokk 14
ASA Under-17 11
(4-1, 5-3, 2-5, 3-2)
Marsaxlokk: M. Scerri, L. Friggieri, M. Agius, E. Meli 1, K. Grech 1, K. Mock, A. Galea, C. Bugeja, R. Kovacs 8, P. Kovacs 3, T. Camilleri 1, G. Zammit.
ASA Under-17: J. Navarro, M. Lanzon 1, A. Galea 5, A. Mifsud 1, M. Grech 2, B. Plumpton, G. Mizzi, J. Napier 1, M. Zammit, N. Paris 1, N. Bugelli.
Refs: S. Licari, M. Angilleri.
Otters 12
Marsascala 11
(3-1, 4-5, 2-3, 3-2)
Otters Nivea: N. Grixti, G. Attard, G. Zammit, S. Scerri, P. Sciberras, A. Cachia, K. Scicluna, D. Schem-bri, A. Edward 1, S. Dimech, C. Martin 2, I. Vuksanovic 8, K. Grima Scott 1.
Marsascala: K. Schembri, J. Licari 3, M. Pace 1, B. Muscat, J. Keyes 2, L. Grixti 1, D. Hedegus 1, J. Cremona 1, A. Sammut 1, D. Cassar, C. Mifsud, L. Caruana 1.
Refs: R. Spiteri, M. Dalli.
Sirens 9
Sliema 19
(2-4, 3-6, 2-3, 2-6)
Sirens: J. Cremona, Z. Mizzi 2, M. Grech, J. Napier, A. Babay, Z. Kiss 2, J. Borg, D. Cutajar 2, A. Zarb Cousin 2, A. Attard, S. Micallef 1, G. Debono, A. Grech.
Sliema: R. Coleiro, D. Buric 1, N. Lubrano 2, T. Sullivan, M. Meli, J. Soler 4, G. Kiss 5, E. Aquilina 1, C. Cluett, J. Gabarretta 5, D. Paolella, M. Spiteri Staines 1, D. Abela.
Refs: P. Balzan, S. Scappini.
Next fixtures
Friday: 18.00 Marsaxlokk vs Otters. 19.15 Exiles vs Sirens.
Saturday: 16.45 Marsascala vs ASA Under-17. 18.00 Valletta vs Ta’ Xbiex. 19.15 Neptunes vs San Ġiljan.
Women’s league
San Ġiljan 9
Sliema 5
(3-0, 2-2, 2-1, 2-2)
Scorers
F. Muscat 2, A. Csullog, S. Cassar 2, R. Spiteri 4 (San Ġiljan).
A. Kiss, F. Paolella 3, G. Portelli (Sliema).
Refs: A. DeRaffaele, S. Licari.