Sirens 6 Exiles 7

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

Last night Dorian Pisani and his players managed to overcome a much fancied but erratic Sirens side when they beat them by the odd goal in the dying seconds of encounter with a Michele Stellini drive.

It was another commendable display by the team as after the first Sirens’ attack, Andrea Bianchi had to be pulled out due to a shoulder injury which reduced Dorian Pisani’s options. After a shaky start, Exiles ended the first session three goals down (0-3) but the deficit could have been wider as Sirens missed two sitters.  Matters got worse as Michele Stellini had two major fouls against him by the end of the session.In the first minute of the second session Nicky Paris opened the account for Exiles to get closer to their opponents, but within seconds Sirens regained their three-goal advantage, before a strong recovery by Exiles who piled three goals to level (4-4) at the end of the second quarter. In the third session Exiles managed to survive three man-down situations and added another two goals to nose ahead (6-4) by the end of the third session. A turning point just before the end of the quarter was a break by Slobo Nikic who swam a full twenty metres but his final pass to Timmy Sullivan was blocked by a Sirens defender. In the meantime, more problems for the Exiles bench as Julian Rizzo Naudi was ‘fouled out’ just before the fourth minute of play. In the fourth and final quarter, after 15.45 minutes failing to score, Sirens equalized (6-6) within the first two minutes. The balanced match could have gone either way as both sets showed signs of fatigue with the final shots missing their target. Exiles’ Benji Lanzon was excluded 2.41 to the final horn and Sergio Afric called a time-out for his side. Exiles survived the onslaught and finally managed to find the net twenty seconds to time with a powerful goal by Michele Stellini.

Dorian and his assistant Matthew Pisani have seen a marked improvement in their team’s defence where Matthew Castillo was inspirational with his superb point blank saves and constant directions to his team mates. The shooters have sharpened their aim as evidenced by their names on the scorers’ list on the match card.

Congratulations, once again to the Coach and all his team for winning their eleventh point in this year’s Premier Waterpolo League table.

Matthew Castillo, Julian Rizzo Naudi (1 goal), Michele Stellini (1 goal), Timmy Sullivan, Sean Xerri de Caro (1 goal),  Slobodan Nikic (2 goals), Kurt Griscti, Nicky Paris (2 goals), Andrea Bianchi took the water, whilst Daniel Borg Millo, Jake Bajada and reserve goaler Steve Galea pace were not utilized.

For the record, Exiles scored one of the two man-ups whilst Sirens managed just one conversion out of the seven man-ups.

Next match for Exiles is a hard one when on Saturday 19th August, they take on San Giljan who have a 100% record of 13 wins.

Swim-up at 18.00

KaFa

photo by Adrian Farrugia shows four Exiles players (blue caps) blocking a Sirens’ attack in the second half of yesterday’s tussle.

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