San Ġiljan, Sliema set up Knock Out final showdown

San Giljan and Sliema will meet in Saturday’s Knock Out final after overcoming the challenge of Sirens and Neptunes respectively.

Sliema gained a mental boost over Neptunes when they staged a late rally to book a place in the Saturday’s showdown. On the other hand, San Ġiljan succeeded in wearing down Sirens’ resistance

In what it considered to be a dress-rehearsal of next week’s play-off semi-final, Sliema took an early lead against Neptunes only for Steve Camilleri to net a brace and turn around the scoreline in his team’s favour. The match remained balanced all the way with the lead alternating continuously.

With Giacomo Cannella on two personal faults early on, the Blues were forced to use him sparingly.

Alec Fenech made it 3-1 but gradually, the Blues started to make inroads with goals from Dino Zammit, Cannella and Liam Galea (2) giving them a 6-5 lead.

Jordan Camilleri scored either side of half-time as the Reds regained a slight edge over their arch-rivals.

Goals kept alternating in the third session with the Reds keeping their noses in front.

The match remained hanging on a knife edge after Dino Zammit made it 9-9.

Sliema took the lead on 10-9 with Jamie Gambin.

With Sam Gialanze and Jake Muscat fouled out, Neptunes had to summon on other units to quell their opponents’ reaction. Yet, they lost Jordan Camilleri on three personal faults and reacted by pulling down his opponent’s cap.

For this reaction, Sliema were awarded a penalty from which Jayden Cutajar made it 11-9. But Liam Galea completed his poker with a shot that beat the buzzer.

At 12-9 down at the end of the third session, Neptunes had a mountain to climb in the final quarter.

Camilleri reduced the gap to two goals, but Sliema looked sharper as Cutajar reached his hat-trick and Andreas Galea put his name on the scoresheet with a late brace to drain Neptunes’ hopes of an unlikely recovery.

Sliema had proved too strong for the Reds on the day.

San Ġiljan succeeded in overcoming the spirited challenge of Sirens, with Aaron Younger’s seven goals, most of which came from a five-metre throw, helping his side to book their place in the KO final.

Sirens were equal to their opponents in the first session. But they failed to last the pace and the result was sealed in the third session.

Sirens led once on 3-2 at the start of the second session. The Sirens’ goals came from Jerome Zerafa Gregory and Gianni Farrugia.

On 9-6 down, at the end of the third session, Sirens reacted strongly with goals from Peter Borg, Daniil Merkulov and Matthias Azzopardi setting up a nervy ending.

But the St Paul’s Bay side’s lack of precision in their shooting and their players showing signs of fatigue, San Ġiljan regained control of the match to complete the job.

SAN ĠILJAN 11

SIRENS 8

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

SAN GILJAN: J. Tanti, N. Bugelli, D. Tully, R. Caruana, A. Younger 7, M. Zammit 1, J. Bonavia , J. Zammit, J. Abela 1 , N. Zammit 1, D. Zammit 1 , N. Schiavone , G. Borg, G. Bonavia

SIRENS: M. Bonello Dupuis, P. Serracino, J. Chircop 2, P. Borg 1, J. Cachia, K. Agius, D. Merkulov 1, I. Riolo, J. Zerafa Gregory 2, G. Farrugia 1, M. Sciberras, M. Azzopardi 1, J. Parnis, M. Ortoleva.

Refs: P. Balzan, M. Gerasimov.

NEPTUNES  10

SLIEMA 15

(2-1, 4-4, 3-7, 1-3)

NEPTUNES: A. Borg Cole, D. Kholod 2, S. Gialanze, G. Pace, J. Camilleri 2, L. Mallia, S. Camilleri 4, S. Castillo, J. Muscat 1, J. Bajada, A. Fenech 1, E. Mallia, M. Rossi, D. Bugeja.

SLIEMA: N. Grixti, E. Schembri, L. Galea 4, J. Gambin 2, G. Cannella 1, B. Cachia 1, J. Cutajar 3, D. Rizzo, J. Brownrigg, A. Galea 1, S. Engerer, D. Zammit 2, M. Castillo, J. Cassar.

Refs: A. de Raffaele, L. Bianco.