Exiles 8 Sirens 8

(3-1) (1-2) (1-3) (3-2)

It was Maurizio Mirarchi’s first match at the helm and the expectations after a week of his solid work were mixed. The team had a flying start when in the first quarter, managed to get four expulsions and a penalty with two  opposing spearheads penalized on two major fouls apiece which forced Sirens’ coach Bogdan Rath to revise his initial plan. In the second session Exiles increased its lead to three (4-1)  but erratic passes in the attack proved costly as Sirens reduced the gap to one goal to end the half-way one up for our boys.

In the second part of the encounter Exiles had seven players expelled including a definite expulsion 70 seconds before the end of the third session of Kurt Griscti who was caught by the referee kicking off an opponent. The score then stood at 5-5 when Sirens forged ahead by a brace to lead 8-6 just under three minutes from the final whistle. An opportune goal by Benji Lanzon and a brilliant flick by David Pace Lupi in the dying seconds saved the day for the team.

Considerations

From the stands, one could notice that the team clicked until the goals were piling in the initial part of the game. As Sirens fought back, the cohesion faded, maybe through fatigue from the heavy workload of training during the first few days of Mirarchi’s stay. There was hardly any scope of changing the whole team at the start of the third session when the result was to close to change the formation so drastically. We are still seeing the same basic mistakes being made by some of the experienced players and these were pointed out time and again by Mirarchi. One has to consider these comments taking into account the level and age of our opponents.

For the record Exiles had eight man-up situations including a penalty which was converted scoring four times and missing three whilst we had to defend one man short on nine occasions but Sirens found the net just twice. Simon Vassallo scored a hat-trick, Peter Borg put his name twice on the score sheet whilst David Pace Lupi, Benji Lanzon and Skipper Kayne Lanzon scored one goal each.

The following players took the water: Ian Bugeja, Julian Rizzo Naudi, Simon Vassallo, David Pace Lupi, Philip Paris, Nicholas Portelli, James Spiteri Staines, Kurt Griscti, Michael Paris, Peter Borg, Benji Lanzon and Kayne Lanzon.

The final non-competitive  match will be played tonight at 20.00 hours at the National Pool Tal-Qroqq when Exiles take on the Under 19 ASA Selection.

KaFa

Photo by Adrian Farrugia

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