That VK Jadran Herceg Novi would see off Valletta even more easily than Steaua Bucharest did on Saturday was well on the cards.

What was not foreseen was the emphatic way the potent Montenegro champions would dispose of the Maltese side as they stormed to a mammoth 25-1 victory.

So huge was the chasm between the two sides that the chores of Jadran’s coach, Vlado Gojkovic, were limited to effecting substitutions rather than giving technical instructions to his units.

To make matters worse for the Maltese players, coach Karl Izzo was unable to make use of top-scorer Matthew Zammit and the talented Miguel Zammit, who were both nursing injuries.

Nevertheless, there was no stopping the visitors’ ruthless scoring machine, with nine of their 11 outfield players figuring on the scoring list.

The only ponderable for the host team was whether they would break their scoring duck. That ‘distinction’ fell to Edward Aquilina who netted in the third session.

Of consolation to Izzo and his coaching clan is the fact that, in this tournament, some promising talent has been unearthed or confirmed, particularly in Miguel Zammit, Jeremy Abela and captain Nicholas Bugelli who, together with goalkeeper Nicholas Grixti, already forms an integral part of the senior national team.

Montenegro, Romania clubs advance

The six-match LEN Champions League qualifying round ended with VK Jadran Novi, of Montenegro, and CS Steaua Bucharest of Romania qualifying for the next round. Jadran won all their three matches, with S. Bucharest winning two.

Valletta finished third with one win while KS Arkonia were last.

The tournament’s top scorer was Adria Delgado (S. Bucharest) with nine goals, followed by Aleka Ukropina and Stefan Porobic (Jadran) with eight.

Third classified were Ivan Krizman (S. Bucharest), Vlado Popadic, Duro Radovic Stefan Vidovic (Iadran) and Matthew Zammit (Valletta) with seven goals each.

Results

Valletta            1             Vk Jadran          25
(0-7, 0-5, 1-9, 0-4)

Valletta: N. Grixti, N. Bugelli, E. Aquilina 1, J. Sciberras, Z. Mizzi, Matthew Zammit, M. Spiteri Staines, K. Griscti, J. Abela, Miguel Zammit, D. Fenech, D. Zammit, J. Tanti.

VK Jadran: S. Kandic, A. Ukropina 3, V. Popadic 2, Z. Kovacic 3, S. Vidovic 3, D. Merkulov 3, B. Banicevic, S. Porobic 2, D. Radovic 4, M. Petkovic 2, F. Gardasevic, S. Pjesivac 3, P. Tesanovic.

Refs: B. Mercier (France); M. Vlasic (Croatia).

Arkonia S.         3             S. Bucharest    17
(0-5, 0-5, 1-3, 2-4)