Neptunes Grimaldi booked a passage into the final of the knock-out competition after beating a gallant Sirens Ritter Sport who have come a long way this season after grooming a well-knit team spearheaded by Italian Christian Presciutti and Csaba Kiss, of Hungary.
The Reds relied mostly on Peter Biros. The Magyar helped his team get out of tight situations when netting a nap-hand of goals all of which were at crucial moments.
It was a close contest all the way, with Reds coach Sergey Markoch again opting to leave the influential scoring ace Steve Camilleri on the bench due to shoulder trouble.
The St Paul’s Bay team were an uninhibited lot especially after their encouraging outing against Sliema the previous week.
This time they also held their own after a bright start, and with Neptunes taking the upper hand in the middle sessions and leading 10-7 with three minutes left, they again fought back to come close to saving the game.
In the end, they claimed that they were hard done by and should have been awarded a turnover decision.
Protests rained down from their supporters’ section in the stands.
In truth, Sirens were to blame for being somewhat wasteful in the extra-man sets, although their opponents’ reading in this respect was none too healthy, either.
Neptunes 10
Sirens 9
(1-2, 4-2, 2-1, 3-4)
Neptunes: A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon, G. Mizzi, M. Stellini 1, T. Agius, M. Zammit, S. Camilleri, J. Camilleri 3, A. Zarb Cousin, P. Biros 5, B. Muscat, T. Molnar 1, C. Mercieca.
Sirens: N. Grixti, Z. Mizzi 2, C. Presciutti 3, G. Pace, M. Grech 2, C. Kiss 2, M. Caruana, D. Cutajar, J. Napier, E. Aquilina, L. Caruana, A. Sammut, M. Pisani.
Referees: M. Angileri, G. Del Bosco.
Otters 12
Ta’ Xbiex 11
(4-3, 4-2, 2-3, 0-2 – 2-1, 0-0)
Otters: J. Micallef, G. Attard 1, G. Zammit, K. Scicluna, R. Bonnici, A. Borg, J. Paris 1, D. Schembri 2, A. Edward 1, S. Dimech, C. Martin, I. Vuksanovic 7, K. Grima Scott.
Ta’ Xbiex: L. Borg, M. Maksimovic 3, M. Camilleri, S. Aquilina 1, K. Debattista, K. Mock, S. Gravina 1, M. Agius 1, E. Gravina, L. Pace, R. Attard, O. Zammit 3, P. Markoch 2.
Referees: R. Spiteri, G. Lo Dico.