Neptunes Emirates, far from supercharged, were good enough to consign Sirens Ritter Sport to a 15-8 defeat, a result which paves the way to what could be a showdown play-off for the title, given that they overcome neighbours San Ġiljan Sir Alex at the end of this month.
Stringent marking, especially from Sirens, kept their deficit to just two goals in the first session, both scored by Tamas Molnar who is the only player to have scored in every league match so far.
Sustaining their rigid press gameplan and profiting from some slipshod play from their opponents, Sirens managed to limit their deficit to two goals on 5-3 by the halfway mark thanks to Alex Attard who scored three.
The Northerners, without danger man Arpad Babay, conceded three goals to fall 8-3 behind.
Goals from Zak Mizzi and Babay’s replacement Federico Cimarosti sandwiched Sean Gravina’s strike and made it 9-5 for the Reds before Molnar scored his team’s 10th.
With the result in the bag, only statistics mattered and that allowed Steve Camilleri to regain his striking touch (he is the leading scorer) as did Attard for Sirens, scorers of seven and five goals respectively.
Valletta United, newly-crowned First Division champions, reached the 30-point mark when they defeated Otters Nivea by an 11-goal margin in a match which they controlled with minimum effort.
They had a flying start when taking a 4-0 first-session lead thanks to their superior movement and finishing power.
That advantage was maintained in the next quarter as the sides shared four goals. The City team added to their tally to make it 11-4 at the end of the third quarter, after which they sealed the scoreline on 15-4, using all their manjack in turns.
Summaries
Sirens 8
Neptunes 15
(0-2, 3-3, 2-5, 3-5)
Sirens: A. Grech, Z. Mizzi 1, M. Grech 1, J. Napier, F. Cimarosti 1, C. Kiss, J. Borg, D. Cutajar, A. Zarb Cousin, A. Attard 5, S. Micallef, C. Merten, J. Cremona.
Neptunes: A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon, A. Sammut, M. Stellini, T. Agius 1, A. Ciric 2, S. Camilleri 7, J. Camilleri, M. Lanzon, S. Gravina 1, B. Lanzon, T. Molnar 4, C. Mercieca.
Refs: M. Angileri, G. Fusco.
Otters 4
Valletta 15
(0-4, 2-2, 2-5, 0-4)
Otters: N. Grixti, G. Attard, G. Zammit, A. Borg, P. Sciberras, A. Cachia, K. Scicluna, D. Schembri, A. Edward 1, S. Dimech 1, C. Martin, I. Vuksanovic 2, K. Grima Scott.
Valletta: R. Sciortino, S. Meli 1, R. Calleja, M. Korolija 3, J.C. Farrugia 1, S. Cachia 3, M. Cordina 2, C. Zammit 2, C. Debono, R. Scerri 2, A. Arrigo, D. Filipovic 1, Z. Sciberras.
Refs: A. DeRaffaele, R. Spiteri.
TA’ XBIEX 18
ASA U-17 8
(3-3, 3-3, 8-1, 4-1)
Ta’ Xbiex: J. Navarro, L. Pace, And. Galea 2, Ant. Galea 1, K. Pace 1, L. Borg, K. Galea 1, M. Paris, P. Paris, P. Markoch 10, R. Attard 2, O. Zammit 1.
ASA U-17: Z. Sciberras, M. Lanzon 1, N. Paris, A. Mifsud, M. Mifsud, B. Plumpton 1, G. Mizzi, M. Zammit, M. Cacici 5, N. Bugelli 1, D. Spiteri.
Refs: A. DeRaffaele, S. Licari.
Next fixtures
Tuesday: KO finals – 18.00 Marsascala vs Valletta. 19.15 Neptunes vs Sliema.
Premier League
P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
Neptunes | 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 169 | 91 | 27 |
San Ġiljan | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 145 | 123 | 27 |
Sliema | 11 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 139 | 118 | 18 |
Sirens | 10 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 97 | 149 | 6 |
Exiles | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 92 | 161 | 0 |
Division One
P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
Valletta | 11 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 155 | 86 | 30 |
Marsascala | 11 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 129 | 116 | 21 |
Otters | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 95 | 117 | 14 |
Ta’ Xbiex | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 121 | 132 | 10 |
Marsaxlokk | 10 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 95 | 144 | 1 |