Sirens 14 Exiles Elia Caterers 7

Partial scores (3-0) (3-2) (5-1) (3-4)

Exiles started the second round of the Waterpolo Premier League with another the defeat when they lost 7-14 against a sharper Sirens outfit when these met last Saturday at the National Pool.

The Northerners were always the starting favourites after their recent fine wins against the Premier pace-setters Neptunes and San Giljan. Exiles were expected to have learnt from their previous outing against Sirens (12-18) but they committed the same mistakes of conceding goals on the counter attack. Their offensive part was weak, predictable and lacked clarity with the opponents ready to sprint up in numerical advantage with the Exiles rearguard caught napping. More variation is required when set in attack with the team ready to retreat.

At the half-way stage, Exiles had hopes of reducing the four-goal gap (2-6) but these were dashed as Sirens won the third quarter to increase their lead to eight goals (11-3) before their Coach Sasko Popovski introduced a few youngsters from the bench to get the feel of playing top local waterpolo in the final quarter which Exiles won (4-3).

Man-Up Exiles 2 on 4 occasions as well as all 3 penalties awarded. Sirens had 5 man-ups and converted 3 together with 2 of the 4 penalties.

Igor Vukanovic  made use of the following players Matthew Castillo, Michele Stellini Marco Jelaka (1 goal), Timmy Sullivan (3 goals), Sean Xerri de Caro, Mark Fenech, Kurt Griscti (1 goal), Milos Vukicevic (2 goals), Aurelien Cousin, Nicky Paris and Philip Paris.

Next match sees Exiles meet Neptunes on Tuesday 23rd July. The Reds have beaten San Giljan twice in the past few days (16-15) in theLeague and (13-10) in the Knock-Out quarter final tie. Swim-up at 19.30 

KaFa

(photo by Adrian Farrugia shows Milos Vukicevic (blue cap number 9) being tackled by the Sirens’ defender Paul Privitera white cap number 4 )

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