In the second match on Tuesday 7th June, Valletta, marshalled by Robert Kovacs and Adam Decker came from behind to kill off Exiles’ aspirations after winning the final session 5-1.

Valletta have banked on a nucleus of players of Marsaxlokk namely, Decker, Giorgio Sammut and Alan Arrigo but the squad included also former Neptunes player Timothy Agius and Sebastian Cini who was facing his former side.

In the first session, Exiles appeared to have a better cutting edge with Marco Cuk posing threats with his shooting, netting two goals in the process as they took a 4-2 lead after a temporary equaliser by the Citizens.

Joe Caruana Dingli’s side appeared to be well in control as they surged to a 7-4 lead before the teams’ changing ends.

But Valletta recovered admirably. First they held on to a balanced 2-2, only for Anthony Farrugia’s side to run into full throttle in the final session to turn a 6-9 deficit to an 11-10 advantage.

Inspired by some excellent goalkeeping from Andrea Sammut, the Citizens managed to turn the result in their favour through goals from Kovacs and Decker.

 

Exiles: A. Borg Cole, J. Rizzo Naudi 2, K. Rizzo Naudi, D. Zammit Lupi, T. Sullivan 1, M. Calleja, M. Cuk 4, K. Griscti, N. Portelli, A. Cousin 3, J. Paris, A. Sciberras, K. Lanzon.

Valletta: A. Sammut, A. Decker 3, K. Hyzler, C. Bonello, G. Sammut 3, S. Cachia 1, A. Galea, K. Micallef 2, R. Kovacs 1, S. Cini 1, A. Arrigo, G. Ghirxi, T. Agius.

Referees: P. Balzan, P. Giordano.