Exiles 14 San Giljan 17

Exiles showed further progress in their third outing at the National Pool last night but still ended the contest without any points. The only comment on the match I received from a neutral fan present was that Exiles were clearly ‘deprived’ of a merited victory. This setback should not discourage Aurelien Cousin and his admirable players. On the  contrary, the resilience shown should instill  tonic to their abilities. With nine more matches to play, I am sure that Aurelien will transmit doses of his shrewdness to the players’ minds to reap the awaited positive results. Last night, Exiles proved that they are no pushovers and amply merit their status in the local waterpolo scene.

Due to a previous engagement your reporter did not watch the match and a short write-up will be issued to include a few interesting and glaring statistics on the match in a separate report.

It was suggested to me to introduce a new feature in my contribution – that of the man of the match. I thought hard about it  you know –  I am sure you guessed.

No photo is being included as a sign of a legitimate protest

Karol Farrugia

Update 23/06/2013

Exiles 14 San Giljan 17

(2-6) (5-2) (5-3) (2-6)

Exiles players were excluded on 11 occasions: twice in each of the first three sessions with San Giljan converting half of these; whilst in the fourth and final one, they scored four of the five man-up situations. Our opponents had also two penalties awarded and converted: one in the first session and the second was in the last session. Out of the 17 goals conceded by our team, 7 were from man-down and 2 from five-metre penalties.

San Giljan were in numerical disadvantage on just four occasions and these occurred in the first three sessions with Exiles finding the net just once. Exiles had two penalties awarded and converted in the first and third quarters. This means that our lads managed to score 11 goals when both sets of teams were equal in the water against the tally of 8 of their opponents.

The last session – actually the last five minutes of the encounter – tells it all with five exclusions and a penalty against Exiles and yes – you guessed again – none for our lads!!!

For the record French Coach Aurelien Cousin made use of the following players, Ian Bugeja, Julian Rizzo Naudi, David Pace Lupi, Romain Blary (2 goals), Nicky Portelli, James Spiteri Staines (1 goal), Vojislav Cupic (6 goals), Kurt Griscti, Peter Borg (3 goals), Diego Borg and Kayne Lanzon (2 goals).

This controversial match is now archived and the players must set their  minds on the next encounter in less than 48 hours.

Karol Farrugia

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