There were victories for Otters Nivea and Ta' Xbiex Mermaids Paradise when they crossed swords with Marsascala Solid Base Engineering and Marsaxlokk respectively in yesterday's matches.
In the main duel of the day, a resurgent Otters played their best match so far to lower the colours of Marsascala, guided from the bench by Alfred Cachia and spearheaded in the water by six-goal Hungarian player Zoltan Radocz.
No doubt the Gozitans were well worth their victory, unbelievably converting all their eight man-up sets, besides two penalties. Not only, but their teamwork and blocking was admirable, never mind Marsascala's wastefulness with a 33 per cent success rate on man-ups.
Now the team from the sister island will be leading the table with maximum points at the beginning of the second stage.
In the other match, Marsaxlokk, laden with some players who are well past their sell-by-date, were no match for Ta' Xbiex Mermaids Paradise whose couple of veterans were not similarly handicapped since there was no pause in their playing activities.
Easy stroll
The outcome was an easy stroll for Ta' Xbiex. Their 10-1 advantage at midpoint assured them of a cantering sequence till the end of the match against a team that were back to the lows of their first outing.
The contest element was rubberstamped by the huge margin of victory. There was a controversial ending as Ta' Xbiex coach Marco Manara was dismissed for dissent after six-goal Tamas Gyrovath was sent off following his third personal fault.
Otters 13
Marsascala 9
(3-4, 4-2, 2-1, 4-2)
Otters: A. Sciberras, G. Attard, G. Zammit 1, Z. Radocz 6, C. Saliba, D. Schembri 2, K. Mizzi, K. Baco 2, K. Scicluna, C. Martin, A. Arrigo 1, O. Zammit, K. Grima Scott 1, S. Dimech, D. Saliba.
Marsascala: R. Sciortino, J.C. Cutajar, S. Botond 1, M. Koralji 3, M. Borg Spiteri 4, L. Grixti, J. Licari, J. Cremona 1, S. Micallef, T. Agius, G. Bonnici, G. Pace, S. Farrugia.
Refs: R. Spiteri, M. Angileri.
Marsaxlokk 9
Ta' Xbiex 22
(0-5, 1-5, 3-7, 5-5)
Marsaxlokk: A. Sammut, A. Decker 4, R. Calleja, D. Pace Lupi 2, M. Paris, K. Hyzler, C. Vang 1, A. Cauchi, E. Pisani 1, C. Gambin, T. Camilleri, M. Grima 1, K. Chetcuti Bonavia.
Ta' Xbiex: A. Xuereb, D. Caruana, A. Farrugia 3, C. Bugeja 2, J. Tabone 2, E. Bonello 2, D. Gabriel 4, A. Galea 3, I. Azzopardi, T. Gyrovath 6.
Refs: P. Balzan, S. Licari.
Next Matches
Friday: Division One - 7.30 p.m. Neptunes vs Exiles.
Saturday: Division One - 7.30 p.m. Sliema vs San Ġiljan.