Sirens Ritter Sport almost contrived to spoil their copybook when they faced Exiles Elle-et-Vire in yesterday's first match. They trailed for most of the proceedings as the team from Sliema played diligently and with resilience.

But in a highly-pulsating last session Sirens managed to overturn the scoreline for a victory which should have a lasting bearing on the composition of the first four teams and thus a place in the top league.

Exiles had a bright start, going into a three-goal lead before ending the session 4-1 up. At this point, Sirens were never able to lift their game beyond the mediocre. Eventually, the team from St Paul's Bay started reducing the deficit with Clint Mercieca scoring twice but Aurelien Cousin gave Exiles a two-goal advantage before ends were changed.

Two quick goals from Charlie Zammit brought parity in a high-scoring third session. Joe Caruana Dingli's team twice took a two-goal lead before Mercieca reached his hat-trick to reduce the deficit to 9-8 with the last session still to go.

The excitement started brewing as Sirens scored twice to surge 10-9 ahead. Goals at each end made it 12-apiece with less than two minutes left. It was 44 seconds from the end when captain Paul Privitera managed to save Sirens' blushes with a goal on a man-up.

Neptunes Vodafone maintained their winning trail, disposing of Marsascala by 15 goals to eight in yesterday's second match.

The Balluta team, this time including the Italian Leonardo Sottani, had their star player Steve Camilleri as their catalyst scoring no fewer than six goals.

Otherwise, the quality of the Reds game was far from convincing with their defence looking shaky with goalkeeper Nicky Gouder conceding goals from long distance shots early on.

In fact the southseasiders had a bright start with two goals from Szabo Botond on either side of Neptunes' equaliser. Gradually, Paolo Malara's Reds started picking up mainly thanks to Camilleri's scoring exploits.

With both Gabor Suti and Botond more than a handful for Neptunes, the team from Balluta, although comfortably in the lead, were not convincing when in possession.

However, they were never in danger of losing their grip on the game.

Sirens 13
Exiles 12
(1-4, 2-1, 5-4, 5-3)

Sirens: J. Sammut, A. Baranyi 2, A. Galea, P. Privitera 1, T. Debono, R. Mock, J. Borg 2, D. Cutajar, A. Attard, C. Zammit 2, C. Mercieca 4, T. Marcz 2, R. Scerri.

Exiles: A. Borg Cole, J. Rizzo Naudi 1, K. Rizzo Naudi 1, D. Pace Lupi 1, T. Sullivan 2, S. Cini, R. Thomakhidze 2, K. Grixti, A. Zarb Cousin, A. Cousin 4, S. Vassallo, K. Enriquez, M. Calleja 1.

Refs: M. Angileri, R. Spiteri.

Neptunes 15
Marsascala 8
(4-2, 4-1, 4-3, 3-2)

Neptunes: N. Gouder, N. Lanzon 2, T. Agius, K. Galea 1, E. Cachia, R. Sciortino, S. Camilleri 6, J. Camilleri, R. Attard, S. Gravina, L. Sottani 2, M. Stellini 1, M. Pisani 3.

Marsascala: A. Bugeja, P. Borg 1, J.C. Cutajar, M. Borg, G. Ghirxi, L. Grixti, J. Licari, J. Cremona, S. Micallef 1, R. Cutajar, D. Botond 3, G. Suti 3, S. Farrugia.

Refs: M. Dalli, M. Caruana.

Next fixtures

Friday: 6 p.m. Ta' Xbiex vs Marsascala; 7.15 p.m. San Ġiljan vs Sirens.

Saturday: 4 p.m. Otters vs Marsascala; 5.15 p.m. Marsaxlokk vs Exiles; 6.30 p.m. Sliema vs Neptunes.