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

The match was a balanced affair with the two Italian officials letting play flow. Valletta built an early lead of two goals in the first minutes of the first quarter before three quick goals by Exiles at numerical parity saw the latter win it 3-2. The second session saw the Boys increasing their lead to two (6-4) again when both teams played equal (2 goals) and one man-up. Valletta scored their two man-ups at their disposal. In their first attack of the third session Valletta closed the gap to one before Exiles scored two goals to end the quarter 8-5 up. These three quarters were characterized by few exclusions – one for Valletta and four for Exiles.

The last session saw Exiles increasing their lead to four (9-5) in the second minute but suffered three goals (two from a man-down and a penalty in the dying seconds of our opponents’ attack) to cling to a meagre one-goal lead  by the end of the match to meritedly win the points but which saw their hopes of overtaking the Citizens vanish. In the last session, Exiles started on a high and were expected to take advantage of the three man-ups to widen the gap but did the impossible to miss the sitters.

One could notice the disappointed faces of the players at the end of the match.

For the record, Exiles scored one of the four man-ups whilst our opponents had six man-ups and converted two of them and a penalty awarded in the final two minutes.

Once again, Maurizio Mirarchi  Exiles Coach could not utilize Sean Gravina who isstill nursing an injury and resorted to the use of just ten players – Ian Bugeja, Julian Rizzo Naudi, Simon Vassallo (2 goals), David Pace Lupi (1 goal), Romain Blary (2 goals), James Spiteri Staines, Kurt Griscti, Andrea Bianchi (1 goal), Marco Cuk (3 goals) and Kayne Lanzon. Goalkeeper Steve Galea Pace, Philip Paris and Michael Paris were not utilized.

KaFa

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