The highlight of this year’s Winter League opening day was the match between Sliema Frank Salt Real Estate and San Ġiljan ASC, a clash which ended with the Saints sinking the Blues 8-5.

In yesterday’s other two matches Valletta McDonald’s and Neptunes Grimaldi had the better of Exiles Ferretti and Sirens Ritter Sport, 10-3 and 6-4, respectively.

Despite some rustiness evident after various weeks of inactivity all the teams were bent on pulling their weight in search of a positive take-off.

In the plum match, San Ġiljan’s superior shot efficiency, tighter blocking and slicker inter-play helped them obtain a morale-boosting kick-start to this year’s pre-season campaign.

Except for an early 2-0 advantage for the Blues, who had hat-trick hitter Edward Aquilina back in their ranks, the wind blew in the direction of San Ġiljan which had them capitalising on their established players, including new signing Clint Mercieca.

Their young players were also well in the frame and this resulted in the team having a more balanced outfit. This had Sliema, without John Soler, undone.

That 2-0 early deficit was turned to a 4-2 lead for San Ġiljan midway through after which a goal separated the sides until 90 seconds from the end when the score was 6-5 for the Saints.

Then strikes from Aurelien Cousin and Peter Borg, to add to the goals scored by Mercieca, Ben Plumpton, Matthew Zammit (2) and Dino Zammit, sealed it for Marko Orlovic’s team.

There was little semblance of a close duel between Exiles and Valletta. The City team, under the stewardship of Stephen Rizzo, had an explosive 5-0 start.

That comfortable buffer was maintained and slightly augmented at the end as Valletta’s Michael Spiteri Staines, on loan from Sliema, played the tune with a total of five goals, yesterday.

Exiles, under the charge of Dorian Pisani, rarely found time and space to direct shots on target.

Winter League holders Neptunes, with a fresh sprinkling of youth, managed to regroup their forces to leave Sirens stranded, albeit by a two-goal margin.

The St Paul’s Bay team lacked the scoring instincts of Aquilina and could only summon the experience of captain David Cutajar and Zach Mizzi who each netted a brace.

The Reds were always ahead, only for their opponents to equalise on each of the first three occasions.

Led by Igor Martinovic from the bench and the Niki Lanzon-Jordan Camilleri tandem in the water, the Balluta team opened a two-goal lead in the third session, which was again trimmed to a single length at the end of the third quarter.

However, the more solid Neptunes were able to puncture the last hole in their opponents’ rearguard through Sean Xerri de Caro 65 seconds from the end.

That goal put the game to bed.

Summaries

Exiles 3
Valletta 10

(0-5, 1-3, 2-0, 0-2)

Exiles: I. Bugeja, J. Rizzo Naudi, L. Felice, D. Pace Lupi, D. Borg Millo, A. Cutajar, S. Gravina 1, K. Griscti, N. Paris 1, A. Bianchi 1, G. Ciappara, L. Peric, K. Lanzon.

Valletta: R. Sciortino, J. Spiteri Staines 1, A. Agius 1, R. Mock 1, D. Paolella 1, N. Bonello Ghio, M. Cordina, C. Zammit 1, D. Spiteri, M. Spiteri Staines 5.

Refs: R. Spiteri, A. Goncharenko.

Neptunes 6
Sirens 4

(2-2, 1-1, 2-1, 1-0)

Neptunes Grimaldi: A. Borg Cole, N. Lanzon 1, L. Calleja, M. Lanzon 1, T. Agius, S. Xerri de Caro 1, K. Navarro, J. Camilleri 2, J. Abela 1, M. Zammit, B. Lanzon, M. Azzopardi, J. Tanti.

Sirens Ritter Sport: N. Grixti, Z. Mizzi 2, A. Camenzuli, G. Pace, M. Grech, E. Meli, M. Balucci, D. Cutajar 1, J. Napier 1, J. Sciberras, L. Caruana, A. Sammut, R. Gauci.

Refs: P. Balzan, S. Licari.

Sliema 5
San Ġiljan 8

(2-2, 0-2, 2-1, 1-3)

Sliema: R. Coleiro, J. Gabaretta 2, E. Aquilina 3, C. Cluett, M. Meli, K. Dowling, M. Fenech, T. Sullivan, J. Brownrigg, A. Attard, D. Fenech, N. Bugelli, Z. Sciberras.

San Ġiljan: J. Sammut, P. Borg 1, A. Galea, J. Galea, D. Zammit, M. Zammit 2, K. Galea, C. Mercieca 1, B. Plumpton 1, A. Cousin 2, P. Fava, D. Zammit 1, D. Camilleri.

Refs: A. Goncharenko, R. Spiteri.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.