Sliema and Neptunes were made to work for their victories against Exiles and Sirens respectively, but both managed to grind out hard-fought wins to maintain their momentum at the top end of the Premier Division standings.
Neptunes had to dig deep to edge past a defiant Sirens side in a dramatic Premier Division clash that went down to the final moments.
A last-minute strike from Sam Gialanzè sealed a hard-fought 9-8 victory, as the Reds narrowly avoided a major upset in a tense, back-and-forth encounter.
A balanced first quarter saw both teams trading blows.
Neptunes focused their attacks down the right flank, with goals from Gergo Zalanki and a brace from Sam Gialanzè.
Sirens, however, responded with strikes from Gianni Farrugia and Nicolas Bicari, before Kydon Agius beat the buzzer to level the match at 3-3.
In the second session, Stevie Camilleri stepped up, scoring twice to give Neptunes a slight edge.
But Sirens refused to back down, as Matias Ortoleva and Zach Mizzi hit back to restore parity.
Ortoleva gave Sirens their first lead early in the third quarter, but Zalanki equalised immediately.
Still, Sirens remained fearless – Jake Cachia capitalised on defensive gaps to edge Sirens ahead again.
Neptunes wavered in focus, with goalkeeper Matthew Castillo misplacing a pass and Zalanki rattling the crossbar in a frustrating end to the third session.
Ortoleva extended Sirens’ lead early in the fourth quarter with a sharp diagonal effort.
Zalanki, again denied by the crossbar, won a five-metre throw after drawing a foul, which Camilleri converted to pull it back to 8-7.
Moments later, Zalanki unleashed a rocket from position six to level the game once more.
With two minutes remaining, Castillo redeemed himself with a crucial save, denying Cachia’s bouncing shot. At the other end, Joseph Parnis matched that brilliance by blocking a close-range effort from Zalanki.
But with under a minute to go, Gialanzè found space and struck a rising ball that clipped the post before settling into the net – giving Neptunes a crucial 9-8 lead.
Sirens had one final man-up opportunity, but a contra-foul ended their hopes as Neptunes survived a late scare to take all three points.
Earlier on, Sliema’s pristine start in the Premier Division remained intact – but only just – as they were pushed to the limit in a tense derby clash against Exiles.
Niki Lanzon’s spirited side made the league leaders sweat before Sliema eventually pulled away to claim their seventh straight win.
Konstantsin Averka was the standout performer in the opening quarter, netting all five of Exiles’ goals in a thrilling 5-5 start.
The Belarus-born, Montenegro-naturalised player made the most of Sliema’s defensive lapses, converting two penalties and exploiting fouls in critical areas.
Sliema regained composure in the second quarter. Jayden Cutajar completed a hat-trick, while Greek ace Angelos Vlachopoulos added a poker of goals to hand the Blues a 9-6 lead by half-time.
Exiles, however, refused to roll over. They launched a bold comeback after the break, clawing back to 13-12 thanks to a brace from Kurt Griscti and Averka’s relentless scoring – bringing his personal tally to seven goals.
Dino Zammit briefly restored a two-goal cushion, but Averka struck again to close the gap to 14-13, setting up a nail-biting final session.
Sam Engerer gave Sliema breathing space, but Alan Borg Cole kept Exiles in contention with a crucial penalty save on Vlachopoulos.
In the end, it was late strikes from Liam Galea and Elijah Schembri that sealed the win for Sliema, though Exiles emerged with credit for pushing their more-quoted opponents to the wire.
RESULTS
SLIEMA 17
EXILES 14
(5-5, 6-3, 3-5, 3-1)
SLIEMA: N.Grixti, E. Schembri 2, L. Galea 2, J. Gambin 1 , J. Cassar , B. Cachia , J. Cutajar 4, D. Rizzo , A. Galea 1, A. Vlachopulos 4, D. Zammit 1 , B. Busuttil, J. Chircop, S. Engerer 1.
EXILES: A. Borg Cole, G. Gatt, Z. Micallef , D. Pace Lupi, T. Agius, M. Martelacci 2, M. Fenech 1, K. Griscti 2, K. Averka 7, K. Tanti , K. Navarro, D. Zahra 1, G. Galea Curmi, L. Hyzler.
Referees: A. d’Oro, A. DeRafaele.
SIRENS 8
NEPTUNES 9
(3-3, 2-2, 2-1, 1-3)
SIRENS: J. Parnis, P. Serracino, N. Bicari 1, P. Borg, J. Cachia 1, K. Agius 1, M. Ortoleva 3, I. Riolo , J. Zerafa Gregory, M. Sciberras , Z. Mizzi, G. Farrugia 1, M. Bonello Dupius, G. Pace.
NEPTUNES: M. Castillo, S. Gialanze 2 , G. Zalanki 2, L. Mallia, J. Camilleri , K. Dowling, S. Camilleri 2, M. Castillo, B. Schranz, J. Bajada , A. Fenech , M. Azzopardi, M. Rossi, E. Mallia.
Refs: M. Alessandroni, M. Angileri.
TA’ XBIEX 15
MARSASKALA 17
(3-7, 5-5, 2-2, 5-3)
TA’ XBIEX: T. Schembri, J. Farrugia, A. Formosa, L. Grech Carr 1, J. Zammit, M. Manara, F. Scardino 1, R. Pelicaric 9, N. Bonavia 1, J. Culic 2, Z. Bartolo, M. Naudi, A. Theuma, S. Van Wyk 1.
MARSASKALA: A Muscat, D. Ciantar 1, T. Fenech 2, J. Pace Mizzi 1, J. Simpson, R. Greco 2, N. Castillo, G. Kovacs 6; K. Grech 5, G. Sammut, M. Curmi, T. Camilleri, L. Gatt.
