1992/1993 - Two Tough Seasons

In 1992, Exiles had an up-hill struggle when they had to meet Valletta United who parade the Zammit brothers and had more guns than our lads. It was a matter of how much the goal difference would be at the end of the encounter. The draw did favour Exiles at all. In fact in the first match we were pitted no other but the hot favourites. The match ended 9-7 for Valletta with Colin Gambin scoring five beauties from the centre before our opponents took the right measures to cage him. It wasn’t a bad performance however one could sense that the going was tough. The next match put Exiles out of contention as they drew against Ta’Xbiex 6-6. Two good wins that followed gave some dose of encouragement to the team although Valletta could even afford a hypothetical loss since they were leading by three points before the second round encounter. The players’ meetings held before the crucial matches against Valletta did not spur the team enough to at least beat their stronger opponents. This time it was Stephen Paris who scored five goals out of the team’s final tally of seven against the ten goals we suffered. Valletta went to win the league with full points, whilst Exiles finished five points behind to end up in the runner-up position. Unfortunately for Exiles, the knock-out trophy also went to the best side of the season. Few faces were roped into the team; Michael Paris made his comeback after a spell with Neptunes and Warren Debono was lured by Alfred Cachia from Sliema. Otherwise the bulk of the team included members of the previous campaign.

Welcome to the University Sports Complex where a brand new heated Swimming Pool was to become the centre of the local waterpolo scene. The complex was constructed to host the Swimming events at the Small Nations Games held in Malta for the first time.

That year (1993) the gates were re-opened for foreign players to sign and play with local clubs. The Exiles Committee always argued for this thorny issue and the policy adopted was to back this initiative. In the meantime, the Club obtained the services of prolific veteran scorer Tony Camilleri as well as Sandro Bianchi both loaned from neighbours across the Balluta Bay, Neptunes. Youngster Mark Attard and a returning Nicky Soler joined the squad. Coach Alfred Cachia had better quality players at his disposal and this was proved during the season.

When it came to the foreign player, the Committee’s choice fell on Sergei Lissitsyn, a Russian who had already visited to Malta a season or two earlier. They fact that he was accustomed to the local waterpolo atmosphere and knew also what to expect, made the Club Committee’s decision easier to sign him.

The championship was a two-team affair with Marsascala. The league was played on three rounds with the first match going Marsascala’s way 7-5 in a keenly contested   encounter. The other matches played in the first round were won comfortably with double-score results to prove the supremacy of the two top teams.

In the second match Exiles trounced the Marsascala 18-12 with Sergei and Tony scoring half the total tally and with seven other Exiles’ players putting their names on the score sheet. It was a memorable match for Alfred Cachia and his boys marred by the expulsion and the disciplinary measures against Colin Gambin who was forced to forfeit the next two matches. Otters were our next opponents and were easily disposed of whilst a surprise and unexpected draw against Marsaxlokk, put Marsascala one point ahead of the big clash. With the “terrible duo” Camilleri and Lissitsyn, part of the Press were favouring Exiles for the final victory as in the second round, Marsascala were not showing their usual form though managing to bag their points. More pressure was put on the Exiles side after losing the point lost against Marsaxlokk; a win was a must to clinch the title.

In a pulsating but erratic match, Sergei had the upper hand over his counterpart Horatz Chernohorsky as they tried to block each other out. Our player scored no less than 5 goals to just the two goals which Horatz managed to score. No doubt however, he will remember this match also for missing two penalties. The other Exiles’ spearhead Tony Camilleri had to cope with a five star performance by Marsascala’s young goalkeeper Josie Cachia (loaned from Sliema) and only managed to find the net once from a rebound. Scala won the match of the season 9-7 to win the league by two points after the Disciplinary Commissioner had deducted a point from their final tally when one of their supporters jumped from the stands on to the pool deck and was held back by the Police. In the knock-out both teams contested the final but this time Marsascala wrapped up the match much earlier than the end result (7-9) showed.

In the next article, we will recount how the Committee decided to relinquish Alfred Cachia from Coach, part with most of the loaned players and base on the upcoming players from the youths’ team.