Impressive Sliema beat nervous San Giljan to win Enemed Cup

Sliema picked up where they left off in the summer, lifting the Enemed Cup at the end of a dominant win over San Ġiljan.

The Blues were again in dominant mood to swamp their opponents from San Ġiljan by a seven-goal margin.

There is no doubt about the legitimacy of Sliema’s handsome victory on Saturday but the match was unfortunately marred and conditioned by the brutality committed by Jake Bonavia early in the match.

However, Sliema are playing to their true potential and showing no chink in their armoury.

They took their opponents by storm even if they had a number of players missing through injury or illness namely Ben Cachia, Jayden Cassar and Jamie Gambin.

Their scoring kingpin was Liam Galea, a lad who has an uncanny eye for spectacular goals. Every time, Galea scored, he was greeted with the chant “MVP” from the Sliema supporters, a subtle way how to voice their disapproval, that he was voted out in the ASA Player of the Year accolade.

Sliema were soon in front through Dino Zammit, but San Ġiljan netted twice to momentary take the lead.

However, Sliema responded with six goals as the Blues’ superiority against fumbling opponents started to surface.

In the meantime, Jake Bonavia, was dismissed for brutality and leaving his team to battle on for four minutes with a man less.

After taking a 4-2 lead in the opening session, Sliema pressed for more in the second quarter with Zammit and Liam Galea grabbing their chances as Elijah Schembri and John Brownrigg were also in the scoring trail as the Blues surged into a 7-2 lead before ends were changed.

San Ġiljan had no option but to go for stringent press as they trailed by five goals.

Daniel Tully and Nico Schiavone scored to cut the leeway, but Giannis Katrouzanakis’ team were in no mood to take their foot off the accelerator.

The Blues, particularly Galea, kept playing the tune as the player reached five goals with a great backhand to leave the Saints stunned.

In the final session, three goals scored by Gabriel Bonavia tried to make the scoreline more respectable for San Giljan.

Still, Elijah Schembri, who completed his hat-trick, Andreas Galea, Philip Tabone and Sam Engerer helped Sliema to extend their lead for a final score of 16-9.

Valletta emphatically beat Exiles 23-9 to clinch the runners-up spot, leapfrogging San Ġiljan due to a better goal difference in direct encounters.

SAN ĠILJAN 9

SLIEMA 16

(2-4, 0-3, 4-5, 3-4)

SAN ĠILJAN

M. Xerri, N. Bugelli, D. Tully 1, G. Bonavia 3, R. Caruana, L. Dimech, J. Bonavia, B. Plumpton, J. Abela 2, N. Zammit 1, Darren Zammit 1, N. Schiavone 1, Z. Attard, N. Bonavia

SLIEMA

N. Gatt, E. Schembri 3, L. Galea 5, J. Cassar, M. Soler, CJ Saliba, P. Tabone 1, D. Rizzo, J. Brownrigg 2, A. Galea 1, J. Chircop, Dino Zammit 2, B. Busuttil, S. Engerer 2.

Refs: M. Calabró, R. Spiteri.

OTHER RESULTS

Marsaskala vs Birzebbuga 3-12

Neptunes vs Sirens 7-10

Valletta vs Exiles 23-9