Exiles 14 Marsaxlokk 12

(3-1) (3-2) (4-2) (4-7)

Maurizio Mirarchi’s team had a flying start as his boys overwhelmed the Southerners from the first swim-up but this was not reflected in the partial score at the end of the first quarter when Exiles lead by a two-goal margin thanks to a hat-trick of Peter Borg. The team missed several sitters which nearly cost dearer in the dying seconds of the match. In the second and third sessions Exiles increased their lead to five goals as their play improved with Exiles’ new signings Luka Sekulic and Gergely Katonas piling goals for the team. The match was characterized by a low number of expulsions – three suffered by Exiles and six by Marsaxlokk. The first three man-ups for our team were wasted whilst the last three were converted for a 50% overall success score. The three expulsions against were registered in the final session when with just under six minutes to the final horn, the team let slip a six-goal lead to a slender one  with 40 seconds left to play. Our opponents somehow plucked courage to fight back and trim down the gap. Sloppy defending was evident in the Exiles team as signs of physical fatigue surfaced. Two conversions of the three man-up situation by our opponents pointed to a thrilling end but a goal by Luka Sekulic eight seconds to the final whistle, sealed the issue to give the three points to our team.

Italian coach Mirarchi had the following players on the line-up:

Ian Bugeja, Julian Rizzo Naudi, Simon Vassallo (1 goal), David Pace Lupi, Gergerly Katonas (4 goals), Steve Galea Pace, James Spiteri Staines, Kurt Griscti (1 goal), Luka Sekulic (4 goals), PeterBorg (3 goals), Benji Lanzon, Diego Borg and Kayne Lanzon (1 goal).

Next match is against San Giljan on Wednesday 18th June at the National Pool Tal-Qroqq at 20.00 hours.

KaFa

photo by Adrian Farrugia

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