Sliema and San Ġiljan top  Challenger Cup groups after hard-fought wins

Sliema ASC and San Ġiljan ended their qualifying commitments in some style after securing victories in their final qualifying matches on Sunday.

Sliema, last year’s semi-finalists in the European competition, battled past last year’s finalists EVK Zaibas 12-10, to seal top spot in their group.

As the scoreline shows, the match turned out to be a real nail-biting contest with Sliema edging both the first and the second sessions to go into the interval 7-5 ahead.

The Lithuanians, roared by the home crowd, tried to step up a gear in the third session, but Sliema managed to come out on top by the odd goal in five to take a 10-7 lead.

Zaibas tried to mount a late fightback in the final quarter, but despite they managed to pull a goal back early on, Sliema kept their composure to protect their two-goal advantage till the end and wrap up a perfect performance in the former Russian Republic.

Liam Galea was the team’s leading scorer with three goals, while Niccolo Gitto, Benjamin Cachia, and Dino Zammit bagged a brace.

The other scorers for Sliema were Aleksandar Ivovic, Jake Cachia, and Elijah Schembri.

San Ġiljan had to come from behind to see off Slovenian side AVK Branik Maribor 21-19.

The match turned out to be a real nail-biter with the home side racing into a 4-3 lead after the opening quarter.

But San Ġiljan kept their composure and produced a strong fightback to turn the result in their favour in the second session, and change ends 9-8 ahead.

San Ġiljan managed to increase their advantage to 17-15 before the final session.

Here, the hosts tried hard to cancel their disadvantage, but the Malta champions held firm to seal a 21-19 win.

Ben Plumpton stood out when netting six goals, while Nikolai Zammit and Jeremy Zammit found the net five times. Marko Vavic and skipper Matthew Zammit grabbed a brace each with the other goal coming from Alika Naone.

Sliema and San Ġiljan will be in action in the Top 8 tournament in mid-March, with Malta being one of the possible destinations to host the competition.