Montpellier 18
Club Valletta 5

(4-4, 4-0, 6-0, 4-1)

Montpellier, of France, were in a class of their own when they dismantled Club Valletta who went down to a whopping 13-goal margin of defeat in yesterday’s European Cup Qualification Round 2 match at the National Pool, Tal-Qroqq.

The defeat was an anti-climax after Izzo’s team performed very decently in their 12-8 loss against the strong Montenegro side, Primorac, on Thursday.

This time the Maltese could find no answer to uncompromising opponents who were clinical in all they did, with no fewer than ten of their units appearing on the scorers’ list, led by four-goal Uros Kalinic.

The hosts were only able to live with Montpeiller until the first session when they shared eight goals and seemed to set up what one throught to be another promising display against classy opposition.

However, the visitors unleashed their scoring power to leave Niki Lanzon and company stranded.

The locals’ scoring momentum stalled, only to be activated momentarily in the last quarter with a fifth and final goal.

Meanwhile, Montpellier went on a striking 14-goal spree as the depleted Maltese, yesterday minus Matthew Zammit and with only 12 units available, were further decimated when a seemingly exhausted Lanzon did not appear in the latter part of the game.

Montpellier: G. Jaszbereniy, L. Chytil 1, T. Pastry 2, C. Martel, R. Saudadier 1, I. Mustur 1, C. Rocchietta 2, D. Heinrich 1, U. Kalinic 4, A. Vlahovic 3, G. Laux 2, Q. Chipotel 1, L. Delgado.

Club Valletta: A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon 3, K. Galea, C. Mercieca, K. Dowling, C. Cluett, Z. Mizzi 1, B. Plumpton, A. Attard, M. Grech, D. Zammit 1, N. Grixti.

Referees: B. Margeta (Slovenia), A. Bender (Germany).

Results: Montpellier vs Mornar 9-11; S. Bucharest vs Primorac 8-6; Mornar vs Primorac 18-5.