This was another show of force from Neptunes Grimaldi whose ‘naval’ guns again found no res-ponse from neighbours San Ġiljan Allcare yesterday.

The Reds have now made another important step towards retaining the league title and in so doing have effectively written ‘finis’ to their opponents’ very remote chances of winning the championship.

The Saints, who had Aleksandar Nikolic leading them, only played for pride and that may have relieved their pressure in contrast to their opponents’ urge to collect maximum points.

Indeed, Neptunes ovecame this psychological element admirably especially in the latter sessions which they completely dominated.

It was a Hungarian rhapsody as their Magyar tandem of Peter Biros and the irrepressible Tamas Molnar shared 12 goals between them.

Neptunes inched ahead on 3-2 in the dying seconds of the first session after the Saints, yesterday again without Karl Galea and for the first time Andrea Bianchi, had twice taken an early lead.

But that is as far as they went even if they managed to trim a 6-2 deficit in the second session to 6-5 and then level the score through the young Ben Plumpton early in the third session.

That was the sign for the Reds to unleash their ammunition as they took a decisive 13-9 lead into the last quarter, with the Hungarians being the protagonists.

Neptunes could not be halted now. Their impetus found no response from San Ġiljan who at one moment when they were four goals behind midway through that last session, had what seemed justifiable claims for a penalty turned down.

But that was of no consequence as the Reds’ superiority was too much for them.

The result was sealed with a penalty scored by Timmy Agius, who complemented the other goals netted by Steve Camilleri (2), Michele Stellini and Niki Lanzon.

The five goals scored by Aleksander Radovic only served for statistical purposes.

In the previous match a sturdy and tactically sound display from Otters Nivea laid low Marsascala Mor€’s colours for the first time this season.

The Gozitans’ 10-9 victory enabled them to cut the leeway to four points as they now stand in second place alongside Marsaxlokk.

Otters were without John Paris yesterday. Nevertheless, another veteran, Duncan Schembri, scorer of three goals, made up for this absence while the usual Ivan Vuksanovic also grabbed a hat-trick, as did Liam Grixti for the losers.

Otters should be lauded for their comeback which twice had them four goals adrift in the second session.

Marsascala, usually good finishers, this time were unable to make their final surge.

Marsascala 9
Otters 10

(3-1, 3-4, 2-3, 1-2)

Marsascala: D. Spiteri, J.C. Cutajar 2, S. Mora 1, C. Bonello 1, E. Meli 1, L. Grixti 3, M. Pace, J. Cremona, S. Micallef, K. Rizzo Naudi, D. Cassar 1, G. Marnitz, J. Cremona.

Otters: J. Micallef, G. Attard, G. Zammit, A. Azzopardi, R. Bonnici, A. Borg, D. Schembri 3, A. Edward 2, S. Dimech 1, C. Martin, Vuksanovic 3, K. Grima Scott 1.

Referees: R. Spiteri, F. Ricciotti.

San Ġiljan 11
Neptunes 17

(2-3, 3-3, 4-7, 2-4)

San Ġiljan: D. Camilleri, C. Spiteri Debarro, A. Galea, B. Plumpton 1, K. Dowling 1, M. Zammit 2, A. Radovic 5, Darren Zammit, Keith Galea, Z. Kovacic 2, P. Fava, Dino Zammit, J. Sammut.

Neptunes: A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon 1, G. Mizzi, M. Stellini 1, T. Agius 1, M. Zammit, S. Camilleri 2, J. Camilleri, A. Zarb Cousin, P. Biros 6, B. Muscat, T. Molnar 6, C. Mercieca.

Referees: M. Dalli, G. Sorgente.

Premier League

  P W D L F A Pts
Neptunes 11 9 2 0 161 108 29
Sliema 10 6 3 1 113 100 21
San Ġiljan 11 5 0 6 128 116 15
               
Sirens 12 6 1 5 134 135 19
Valletta 12 3 1 8 122 139 10
Exiles 12 0 3 9 101 161 3

First Division

  P W D L F A Pts
Marsascala 9 5 3 1 102 90 18
Marsaxlokk 9 4 2 3 93 87 14
Otters 9 4 2 3 96 94 14
Ta’ Xbiex 9 1 1 7 82 102 4

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