Yesterday morning, Valletta McDonald’s made San Ġiljan Crystal Finance stretch every sinew before surrendering 13-10, a result that moves Marko Orlovic’s team to the summit of the league table on a par with Neptunes Grimaldi with 18 points.

It was an unyielding and tactically disciplined Valletta side that fought so hard despite missing the services of the unfit veteran Charlie Zammit who could also be relied upon for his scoring opportunism.

San Ġiljan may argue that they were not fully fired up given the level of their opponents.

However, Valletta are a valid team and cannot be taken lightly, never mind their heavy defeat at the hands of Sirens Ritter Sport in their previous championship match.

After going three goals behind early in the opening quarter, Anthony Farrugia’s lads kept chasing their opponents in the middle sessions to finally make it 7-7 into the last quarter.

Soon they went two lengths behind but City kept pegging until they were 10-9 down with under three minutes left for the end of the match.

However, the Saints’ final burst brought relief in their supporters’ camp with goals from Boris Vapenski following Aurelien Cousin’s fourth, and last-ditch strikes from Matthew Zammit (his third) and Dino Zammit sandwiching Gergely Kiss’s third goal for Valletta.

Summary

Valletta 10
San Ġiljan 13

(1-3, 2-2, 4-2, 3-6)

Valletta: R. Sciortino, O. Zammit, M. Rizzo 1, K. Galea, A. Agius 2, R. Mock 1, G. Kiss 3, N. Bonello Ghio, M. Cordina 1, D. Paolella 1, D. Filipovic 1, D. Camilleri.

San Ġiljan: J. Sammut, P. Borg 1, A. Galea, B. Vapenski 1, G. Molina 2, M. Zammit 3, K. Galea, Darren Zammit, B. Plumpton 1, A. Cousin 4, P. Fava, Dino Zammit 1, D. Spiteri.

Referees: R. Spiteri and G. Fusco.

Premier League