Sirens Ritter Sport’s victory over San Ġiljan Allcare on Saturday may have come too late for the St Paul’s Bay team to challenge for a place in the top three in this summer’s Premier League.

Nothing has been decided yet but with only two matches to go before the end of the round robin phase of the championship, Sirens are still five points behind San Ġiljan and Sliema Frank Salt Real Estate who occupy joint second place in the standings.

Saturday’s 12-11 victory has given Sirens a lifeline and with Sliema facing the Saints in a direct clash tomorrow, the final round of matches on Saturday could become deciders before the league splits into the Championship and Relegation Pools.

Sirens, however, have a mammoth task this evening as they play unbeaten leaders Neptunes Grimaldi who have already secured their place in the top section of the championship.

The build-up to the last programme of matches was, inevi-tably, dominated by the ASA’s decision to turn down a Sliema protest and a San Ġiljan appeal against a 15-day ban handed to Tamas Molnar, of Neptunes, last week.

Acting on uncontested referees reports, Molnar was punished by the disciplinary commissioner for aggressive behaviour at the end of the Neptunes-Sliema derby on July 25 which ended in a 10-10 draw.

The ban was between July 25 and August 8, both days included, and it was that timeframe which triggered the response from Sliema and San Ġiljan.

After the disciplinary commissioner’s decision was made public, Sliema argued that they should be awarded the points on the table as, given that the ban was backdated to July 25, Molnar was effectively ineligible to play against them.

San Ġiljan had appealed the ruling, saying the ban should have started the day after the Neptunes-Sliema match when the incident which led to Molnar’s suspension took place. That way, Molnar would have been ruled out of Saturday’s match against the Saints.

However, the arguments of Sliema and San Ġiljan have been rejected by the ASA executive committee who deemed that the two cases were null.

“The Executive sees little scope in appointing an Appeals/Protests Board to hear a null appeal/ protest,” the ASA said in separate letters sent to the two clubs concerned.

“You will note that we have steered clear of commenting on the merits of the DC’s decision, and we have purposely avoided discussing the scope behind your complaints.

“We feel that enough has been said on this matter. Any further comments and action would be superfluous, serving only to detract our efforts from the game of waterpolo.”

In Sliema’s case, the ASA said the protest was not lodged on time, i.e. within 24 hours of the ‘event’ as stipulated by the rules.

“San Ġiljan was not a party in the disciplinary commissioner’s decision which it is complaining of. Therefore, San Ġiljan have no right to appeal,” the ASA added.

While Sliema and San Ġiljan have publicly expressed their disappointment at the way their claims were handled, perhaps quite un-derstandably insisting that they would have preferred their cases being dealt with via the appropriate boards, the neutrals will be urging all stakeholders to switch attention back to the competition and the spirit of fair play, hoping that this controversial episode is now over and done with.

Meanwhile, Molnar will be absent for Neptunes against Sirens this evening.

Tomorrow, San Ġiljan will try to get back to winning ways after the Sirens upset but they’re in for another tough match as their opponents – Sliema – will also look to secure the three points at stake and avoid added pressure ahead of the decisive round of matches at the weekend.

Next Friday, Sliema play Exiles and 24 hours later San Ġiljan face Balluta Bay rivals Neptunes.

Programme
Playing today: 18.45 Ta’ Xbiex vs Marsascala; 20.00 Neptunes vs Sirens.
Tomorrow: 17.30 Marsaxlokk vs Otters; 18.45 Valletta vs Exiles; 20.00 Sliema vs San Ġiljan.

Premier League

  P W D L F A Pts
Neptunes 8 6 2 0 113 74 20
San Ġiljan 8 5 0 3 98 72 15
Sliema 8 4 3 1 89 83 15
Sirens 8 3 1 4 83 92 10
Valletta 8 1 1 6 76 99 4
Exiles 8 0 3 5 64 103 3

First Division

  P W D L F A Pts
Marsascala 6 4 2 0 68 58 14
Otters 5 2 2 1 54 54 8
Marsaxlokk 6 2 1 3 58 59 7
Ta’ Xbiex 5 0 1 4 43 52 1

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