Barely three days after their 17-12 drubbing at the hands of San Ġiljan, Sliema gained a mental boost when they defeated Valletta 24-9 to book a place in the BO Knock-Out semi-finals.
Sliema, although playing most of the time with the less familiar faces in their squad, completed the scoring formalities against Valletta to inflict the biggest defeat of the season on their opponents, as the Citizens bid adieu to the season on a very sad note.
The chasm between the two sides was evident from the outset as the team from Sliema netted six times without reply in the opening session.
With youngsters Elijah Schembri, Daniel Rizzo, Sam Engerer and goalkeeper Matthew Castillo given extended time in the water, Sliema’s propulsive game on the break kept flourishing.
By the end of the third session, Schembri had scored a poker, Jayden Cutajar and Dino Zammit three goals apiece.
There was no respite from Sliema in the last session with Rizzo and Engerer also reaching their hat-trick as Jayden Cassar got himself among the scorers.
In the opening match, San Ġiljan comfortably beat Birzebbuga 16-6 to go through to the semi-finals and meet Sirens on Saturday.
The Saints were good enough to ease their way to victory with no fewer than eight of their units figuring on their scorers’ list which were spearheaded by Aaron Younger and Jeremy Abela with four goals apiece.
They led at the end of the first eight minutes through goals from Darren Zammit and Younger.
They had a good 6-3 base by the halfway mark with their goals coming from Nico Schiavone, Younger (2) and Abela.
San Ġiljan extended their lead with a six-goal gap. Again, in the last session, Birżebbuġa were pegged back with San Giljan sealing the win with Nikolai Zammit and Gabriel Bonavia leading their charge in that quarter.
SLIEMA 24
VALLETTA 9
(6-0, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2)
SLIEMA: N. Grixti, E. Schembri 4, L. Galea 2, J. Gambin, G. Cannella 2, B. Cachia 2, J. Cutajar 3, D. Rizzo 3, J. Brownrigg, A. Galea, S. Engerer 3, D. Zammit 4, M. Castillo, J. Cassar 1.
VALLETTA: B. Busuttil, M. Mifsud 2, J. Sciberras 1, S. Busuttil 1, K. Borg 1, M. Zammit 2, I. Nagaev 2, S. Micallef, A. Agius, M. Chircop, K. Cremona, A. Bugeja, C. Mercieca.
Refs A. Brasiliano, M. Angilleri.
BIRŻEBBUĠA 6
SAN ĠILJAN 16
(1-2, 2-4, 2-5, 1-5)
BIRŻEBBUĠA: M. Sladden, M. Aquilina 1, N. Cassar 1, B. Grech, S. Bezzina, M. Manara 1, A. Barroso 2, M. Cassar, D. Farrugia, M. Cutajar, M. Mannino, M. Curmi, S.Livori, D. Incorvaja 1.
SAN ĠILJAN: J. Tanti, N. Bugelli, D. Tully 1, R. Caruana 1, A. Younger 4, M. Zammit, J. Bonavia, J. Zammit, J. Abela 4 , N. Zammit 2, D. Zammit 1, N. Schiavone 1, G. Borg, G. Bonavia 2.
Refs: A. Paoletti, A. DeRaffaele.
