This was another dour struggle between top of the table teams, San Ġiljan Crystal Finance and Neptunes Grimaldi, with the sides remaining locked on seven goals apiece.

The result keeps the Saints two points clear at the top of the table while their neighbours from St Julian’s Bay live to fight another day, with the last two matches for each team beckoning.

Two colourful sets of fans witnessed a match replete with exciting fare mostly resulting from an abnormal number of turnover fouls and missed extra-man opportunities which had Neptunes as the main culprits.

The champions profligacy in this respect (they scored two on eight) should not detract from the merits of San Ġiljan who blocked well.

On their part the Saints’ four on seven statistics helped them keep their noses in front except for brief moments in the third session when they twice trailed by a solitary goal.

The team led by Marko Orlovic had started well when taking a 3-1 first session lead through goals from Peter Borg, Guillermo Molina and Aurelien Cousin, with Peter Biros scoring an early momentary equaliser.

This advantage was extended by a Boris Vapenski conversion into the second quarter before Steve Camilleri scored the first two of his three goals (two came from penalties) to make it 4-3 midway through.

The Reds rallied to make it 5-4 and then 6-5, with their goals coming from Michele Stellini, Steve Camilleri and Timmy Agius. But Molina netted his third goal from the acutest of angles to put his team level on 6-6 into the last session.

Matthew Zammit sent his team’s supporters into raptures when he made it 7-6 five minutes from time. Excitement grew to a crescendo as play drifted to and fro.

Ivan Krapic, who was pulled up time and again on turnover infringements, righted matters for his team when he scored on an extraman set to restore the equilibrium with just over two minutes left.

It had been a tantalising duel, with the title still up for grabs.

In the curtain raiser between Sirens Ritter Sport and Valletta McDonald’s the northerners blew their opponents apart in the final quarter when they struck seven times to wrap up a convincing victory which guaranteed them the fourth place in the standings.

It had been fairly even until the penultimate session, with the City team only trailing 7-6.

But then Sirens’ better movement and cynical finishing on breaks had no response from their opponents.

Top scorers for each team were Edward Aqulina and Djorde Filipovic with three goals each.

Sirens 14
Valletta 7

(2-2, 2-1, 3-3, 7-1)

Sirens: N. Grixti, Z. Mizzi 2, C. Presciutti 2, G. Pace 2, M. Grech 1, C. Kiss 2, M. Caruana, D. Cutajar, J. Napier 1, E. Aquilina 3, L. Caruana, A. Sammut 1, I. Riolo.

Valletta: R. Sciortino, O. Zammit, M. Rizzo 1, K. Galea 1, A. Agius 1, R. Mock, G. Kiss 1, N. Bonello Ghio, M. Cordina, C. Zammit, D. Paolella, D. Filipovic 3, D. Camilleri.

Referees: P. Balzan, D. McKerr.

San Ġiljan 7
Neptunes 7

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

SAN Ġiljan: J. Sammut, P. Borg 1, A. Galea, B. Vapenski 1, G. Molina 3, M. Zammit 1, K. Galea, Darren Zammit, B. Plumpton, A. Cousin 1, P. Fava, Dino Zammit, D. Spiteri.

Neptunes: A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon, M. Castillo, M. Stellini 1, T. Agius 1, I. Krapic 1, S. Camilleri 3, J. Camilleri, J. Abela, P. Biros 1, B. Lanzon, S. Xerri de Caro, C. Mercieca.

Referees: M. Bianchi, S. O’Brien.

Premier Division