The winter programme comes to an end this afternoon with a final clash between San Ġiljan and Sliema, a match that has been rendered stale after Neptunes landed a record ninth Winter League title when they beat the Blues 5-4 last month in the second play-off.

The first match, between Sirens and Valletta, is also a dead rubber since the minor placings have already been decided, with the northerners finishing ahead of the City team and Exiles.

As happened in 2013, the epilogue of the competition this year could be determined when applying FINA By-Law 9.6. Only that then Neptunes were declared winners on goal difference after dismissing the Blues 12-5.

Two years ago, the Reds, San Ġiljan and Sliema had finished on 15 points each, with a stalemate in the three direct encounters failing to determine the winner.

As a result, the Balluta Bay Reds needed to beat the Blues by at least a five-goal margin to pip San Ġiljan and Sliema on goal difference/or more goals scored. They went two better to finish on +3 against the Saints’ +1 and the Blues’ -4.

With the introduction of the play-offs this year, the FINA competition rules stipulate the same mechanism. Which means that if the Saints beat Sliema and equal Neptunes’ points’ tally, the Reds cannot be overtaken on the strength of their better head-to-head record against San Ġiljan after they drew the round robin match 7-7 and then won the play-off 9-8.

In the very tight play-offs, the Reds managed to find something extra in their locker. That they beat San Ġiljan and Sliema in those crunch matches was testimony to their resilience and sound tactical nous.

Coach Dorian Pisani led his team astutely from the bench and deserves all credit for his side’s game plans and substitutions.

New coach Zoran Mustur was present for Neptunes’ last two matches, the final one effectively, and will now hope that he will continue where Sergey Markoch left off last year after the Russian masterminded his team to five national league titles in a row and several other honours.

This time Neptunes relied mostly on their five to six top order players, with the inexperienced thinner edge of their squad playing their part well when called to duty despite the team’s other achilles heel of having to play without an established centre.

However, the strong rearguard in front of the ever-steady Alan Borg Cole in goal was Neptunes’ main weapon. It was also a springboard for fast breaks engineered mostly by the Reds’ ageless captain Niki Lanzon, scorer of 22 goals.

Otherwise, it was a fine collective performance from Neptunes, with San Ġiljan and Sliema providing very valid opposition. This balance should guarantee other nailbiting contests in the summer com-petitions which will be boosted by the presence of top-class foreigners.

Deserved winners

In the First Division merit goes to Marsaxlokk, under their coach Ian Azzopardi.

They were deserved winners after collecting the winter title on a total countdown of 18 goals to 16 between the sides when holding off the challenge of previous holders Marsascala.

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