Sliema will be crowned champions with a win on Wednesday
All eyes will be on San Ġiljan on Wednesday evening and how to respond to their setback in Game One of the National Summer League Play-off Final series against Sliema.
Following their 12-8 defeat on Monday, the Saints have no margin for error if they are to keep alive their title hopes and force a decider, scheduled for next Saturday.
San Ġiljan president Peter Bonavia played down the talk that his team is in decline and backed his players to return to winning ways against Sliema today.
Bonavia acknowledged the early dismissal of centre Jeremy Abela had a huge bearing on the result of Game One.
“Jeremy’s movement in the water is very important for us. With Abela forced out of the match so early, it put us in a very difficult situation as we had to amend our plan. Matthew Zammit was moved into the centre to open gaps of the rest of team,” Bonavia explained.
“On the other hand, our foreigner Aaron Younger was being shadowed by two Sliema players. Without going into the finer details of the match, we had been very wasteful in the opening part of the match and changed ends 5-1 down,” he added.
In fact, San Ġiljan were uncharacteristically wasteful on man-up situations. On Monday, they looked like novices when on numerical advantage.
“Normally, we have a conversion rate of 60-70% on man-up situation, on Monday, we kept messing up our numerical advantages,” he said.
“Furthermore, we had also to put up with some controversial refereeing. I think we’ve been done by the referees. There was a clear penalty when the Sliema goalkeeper lowered the goal post. On another occasion, our attempt was blocked by two hands,” he said.
Bonavia feels hard-done by some decisions taken by referees this season.
“All our direct encounters followed the same pattern. Against Neptunes, we lost after Jake Tanti was fouled out in second session following three penalties. In the match against Sliema, Matthew Zammit was fouled out early,” Bonavia said.
The suspension-related absence of Ben Plumpton didn’t aid San Ġiljan’s cause neither.
“Plumpton is two-time ASA player of the year, so his services to the team were missed. We don’t have the necessary strength-in-depth, this season,” he stated.
“We cannot hide behind referees’ decisions. We must play the game of our lives against Sliema today,” he insisted.
Whatever the misgivings about their disjointed efforts against Sliema, the undeniable truth is that San Ġiljan are still very much alive but another false step would end their chances to become champions for the third consecutive year.
“We had a series of 13 unbeaten games against Sliema before these two consecutive setbacks,” he added.
“We must build on our defensive display and the spirited fare shown after the break,” he claimed.
On their part, Sliema are currently riding a new wave of enthusiasm, following their Knock Out triumph, their first major title in 11 years and on the brink of historic double.
At the moment, they have the upper hand on San Ġiljan, a team they hope to usurp as champions. But the injury to Dino Zammit was a bolt from the blue, something, Sliema coach Giannis Katrouzanakis is hoping will push his boys into action.
The Greek mentor has no designs to modify his tactical gameplan for today given the absence of Zammit.
“In recent weeks, we played without our captain John Brownrigg but the unity in our clan has been our chief strength this season,” he claimed.
He dispelled fears that his youngsters will feel the pressure to deliver the title, now that they are so close to the championship.
“So far, our young lads were up to task and we can’t relax now,” he warned.
Against San Ġiljan, Jayden Cutajar, Liam Galea and Benji Cachia all lived to expectations, as star player Giacomo Cannella was well-guarded by the San Giljan players, and they rose to the occasion.
In a previous interview with the Times of Malta, Katrouzanakis had admitted Sliema had two different games, one with Cannella in water and the other without.
However, he dismissed claims that the Italian player was ineffective against San Ġiljan.
“I am very satisfied with Cannella’s game on Monday. He played a very tactical game, fought for every ball. He was an important cog for us and opened a lot of lines for our players who were trying to get in front of San Ġiljan’s goal,” he explained.
But if Cannella rediscovers his goalscoring touch, well then would be a different ball game for Sliema, the Blues fans will hope.
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