Neptunes 19
San Ġiljan 11
(4-3, 5-2, 5-2, 5-4)
Neptunes Vodafone put their recent opaque performances behind them to bounce back with an impressive win against the erstwhile unbeaten San Ġiljan Tropicana Juices yesterday.
The magnitude of the Reds' success was completely unexpected considering the Saints' excellent wins over Sirens and Sliema. However, Neptunes, playing to their true potential and showing no chink in their armoury, took their opponents by storm even if the San Ġiljan players were guilty of fumbling numerous balls.
A jarring note is the behaviour of some of the Saints players who lost their nerve, especially in the last session. One must keep in mind that this is, yet, a manly sport but not a war of vicious behaviour.
For Neptunes, their solid defence, with Nicky Gouder in fine form, was a kick-start while four-goal Sean Gravina exploited the goal-scoring chances with Steve Camilleri netting as many.
Yugoslav Vasovic scored five goals for the Saints but that was of little consolation as Matthew Zammit was rarely in the picture.
Neptunes took a 4-3 lead in the opening session and pressed for more in the second quarter with Gravina grabbing his chances. Camilleri and Kunac were also in the scoring trail as the Reds took a 9-5 lead before ends were changed.
Paolo Malara's team were in no mood to take their foot off the accelerator while at the same time San Ġiljan kept messing up their possession against an otherwise tightly-knit Neptunes rearguard.
It was 14-7 by the end of the third session and the game had long gone the Reds' way.
Unfortunately, some fans from the San Ġiljan side started casting aspersions, followed by objects at the Italian referee who immediately sought protection. Calm on the terraces was restored but not in the water as Jordan Camilleri had to quit the water with a badly bleeding nose while his brother Steve received a punch from Boris Popovic who was dismissed for brutality.
The rest is of academic interest as Neptunes were masters of all they surveyed.
Neptunes: N. Gouder, N. Lanzon 1, T. Agius 1, K. Galea 2, E. Cachia 1, R. Sciortino, S. Camilleri 4, J. Camilleri, A. Kunac 2, S. Gravina 4, L. Sottani 3, M. Stellini 1, M. Pisani.
San Ġiljan: D. Camilleri, C. Spiteri de Barro, C. Gialanze, B. Popovic 2, M. Borg Spiteri, M. Zammit, P. Fava 2, A. Bianchi, M. Pace, A. Borda, Y. Vasovic 5, J. Xerri de Caro 2, K. Lanzon.
Referees: M. Angilleri, M. Monnis.