Planet Field Hockey

The second round of the hockey national league got underway with a feast of goals when no less then ten goals were scored in the two matches played.


The Athlete’s Foot and Young Stars won their respective matches against The George Pub and Pasta Poiatti respectively and thus closed the gap with Punch & Judy Rabat to two points. Punch & Judy however have a game in hand.

Standings:

P W D L F A PTS
Punch & Judy Rabat 4 4 0 0 10 0 12
The Athlete’s Foot 5 3 0 2 9 8 9
Young Stars 5 3 0 2 7 6 9
The George Pub 5 2 0 3 3 9 6
Pasta Poiatti 5 0 0 5 3 9 0

The Athlete’s Foot 4 vs. The George Pub 1
Umpires: Robert Aquilina and Joe Lewis

In the first game of the day The Athlete’s Foot swept as the challenge from The George Pub with an emphatic 4-1 victory. The George Pub, after notching up two consecutive victories at the start of the competition, have now suffered three defeats on the trot. For The Athlete’s Foot this was their third victory in a row. The George Pub conceded the first half to their opponents and it was no surprise that The Athlete’s Foot led by two goals at half time. The goals came from Simon Baldacchino and Michael Caruana Smith.

The George Pub upped their game in the second half and Luke Busutill Leaver was unlucky when his fine shot hit the post. At the other end Caruana Smith missed a good chance to double his tally when he saw Galea save his penalty. The third goal did eventually come with Pace deflecting past Galea from close range. Simon Aguis did pull one back for The George Pub but despite some sustained pressure The George Pub failed to get a second goal that would have reopened the game and a few minutes from the end Ludwig Xuereb sealed victory for his side with his second goal in two matches.

Pasta Poiatti Qormi 2 vs. Young Stars 3
Umpires: Liam Pace and Anthony Tabone

The second game of the day also produced five goals but the match was somewhat more balanced then the first and was only decided in the final minutes. Young Stars were coming from a defeat against The Athlete’s Foot while Pasta Poiatti Qormi are still in search of their victory. On Sunday they took a half time lead thanks to Reuben Chircop. Young Stars could not afford another defeat in their quest to keep in touch with Punch & Judy and in the second half equalised through up the up coming Nicky Aguis Darmanin and then took the lead when Pasta Poiatti goalkeeper blundered and allowed Stringos to deflect past him.

Pasta Poiatti kept at their game and Chircop was once again on hand and scored his second goal to equalise for his side. Young Stars could have taken the lead again when they were awarded a penalty stroke but Pasta Poiatti goalkeeper made up for his earlier misjudgment when he saved Chris Bugeja’s stroke. Pasta Poiatti seemed heading for their first point of the season but in the final minutes it was Bugeja who made up for his earlier mistake by hitting in his side’s third goal.

The League continues on Sunday with two further matches. At 9.00am Punch & Judy Rabat start their second round commitments with a delicate match against Young Stars. The first round game ended 2-0 in favour of Rabat. At 10.30am The Athlete’s Foot play Pasta Poiatti. In the first round the game ended 3-1 in favour of The Athlete’s Foot.

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