Exiles 8 San Giljan 11

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

Another gallant display by Exiles when last Sunday 18th June, they met this season’s hot contenders San Giljan with the latter getting better of Dorian Pisani’s boys 11-8.

What was witnessed from the terraces as well as the favourable comments in the sporting press commended the approach which the Exiles’ players took when they confronted the much-fancied opponents

The Saints had a flying start building a three-goal advantage by the end of the first quarter with all goals coming when both teams had an equal number of players in the water. The second quarter saw San Giljan twice increase their lead to four goals (6-2) and (7-3) but a reaction by the Exiles team in the last 66 seconds of the session reduced the gap to three (4-7). During this session Exiles failed to convert three successive man-up situations. In the third session the Exiles fort resisted four man-down situations but San Giljan squeezed another goal to restore their four-goal advantage (8-4) by its end. In the final session, the match had its intense moments as Exiles reacted vehemently to reduce the gap to two (7-9) with three well-taken goals by Michele Stellini and Slobo Nikic (twice) to get back into contention four minutes to the final horn. The Saints sealed the issue 100 seconds to the end with two quick goals before Exiles scored their final goal in the dying seconds for credible performance. Undoubtedly this latest performance should convince the players to believe in themselves and prove to the waterpolo public that Exiles are no push-overs.

Exiles converted three of their six man-ups whilst San Giljan scored two of their seven man-ups. Besides a simultaneous exclusion on both sides the Saints were also awarded a penalty which was converted.

Dorian Pisani had the following players at his disposal Matthew Calleja, Julian Rizzo Naudi, Daniel Borg Millo, Michele Stellini (2 goals), Timmy Sullivan, Sean Xerri de Caro, Slobodan Nikic (5 goals), Kurt Griscti, Nicky Paris, Andrea Bianchi, Jake Bajada, Luca Felice (1 goal) and Gianni Ciappara.

The next match will be Exiles’ fifth and last one of the first round of the Preliminary Round in this season’s Premier Waterpolo League. They meet current champions Neptunes on Thursday 22nd June 2017 with the swim-up at 19.30 hours.

KaFa

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