San Ġiljan keeper Dean Camilleri stopping a shot against Neptunes. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

When the ASA of Malta introduced a new format to the National League in spring, it was announced that the revamp had been effected for the benefit of the game and that the organisers were still open to other changes in future.

Judging by the way the competition evolved this summer, the ASA should feel pretty satisfied with their experiments. The play-offs were abolished but the less intricate three-round Premier Division still produced an amazing finale, perhaps one that not even the previous best-of-five title-deciding contests would have yielded.

In fact, this evening Neptunes Emirates and San Ġiljan Sir Alex clash in a league title decider after the two sporting antagonists from Balluta Bay completed their season commitments joint top and with 30 points each after 12 matches.

On Saturday, a draw against Neptunes in the last match in schedule would have been enough for San Ġiljan to claim their ninth ASA championship in the club’s history and the first since 1995.

Having misfired badly in their previous matches, the odds were heavily staked against the Reds on the day but Sergey Markoch’s men rose to the occasion with a dramatic 9-8 victory in front of one of the largest crowds ever at the National Pool in recent years.

Neptunes are now back in the reckoning as they remain hopeful of a fourth league success in a row and the 22nd in the all-time winners’ list.

The last two encounters between San Ġiljan and Neptunes were both tight affairs as last weekend the reigning champions made up for their second round upset to the Saints (13-14). That sets up the stage for another tension-filled match with a second full house in a matter of a few days expected at the National Pool today.

Meanwhile, after this match the ASA will have little time available to analyse the impact their pre-season decisions might have left, particularly on the fare provided by teams and attendance figures.

Both aspects of the game should return satisfactory results but that comes after the European Junior Championships which will be played at Tal-Qroqq between September 8 and 15.

In all, there will be 16 national teams playing in four groups. Malta starts with a match against Spain on Sunday. The other two teams in Group B are France and Turkey.

Other ASA honours

The four age-group and women’s league winners for 2013 were decided last week, with four clubs – Neptunes, San Ġiljan, Sirens and Sliema – sharing the honours.

The U-20 and U-15 titles were decided on the basis of the direct encounters between the two top teams who finished equal on points.

In the most senior category, San Ġiljan pipped Sirens after the teams had ended with 23 points apiece, while Neptunes had the better of the Saints in the U-15 age-group, with both teams again ending on 23 points.

Sliema and Sirens won the U-17 and U-13 categories outright, the Blues with 19 points and the northerners with 21 points.

The honours of the women’s league, held for the first time after a lapse of almost two decades, went to Neptunes who ended their commitments with a clean sheet after six matches in a four-team competition.

Like in the boys’ U-20 league, the women were allowed to make use of a foreign player.

Here it is to be noted that Neptunes had 2004 Olympic gold medallist, Italian Madalena Musumeci, in their ranks.

Playing today: 18.30 San Ġiljan vs Neptunes.