POLO FAVOURITES TAKE THE TITLES IN MANCHESTER
Favourites Sheffield and Lancaster were triumphant at the
British Water Polo Championships in Manchester at the weekend.
Sheffield lifted the title for a third consecutive year with
a tense 6-4 win over Liverpool in the women's final, whilst
Lancaster outplayed Rotherham 15-4 to win the men's competition.
Both Sheffield and Lancaster went into the competition as
the top ranked side after winning their respective National
Leagues, but the competition was tight and the results were
never a formality.
Sheffield captain Larissa Davies was delighted with the victory.
"We have been the top team for a couple of years now
and I think when games are tight, that is when the experience
comes through," said Davies. "We know how to deal
with the pressure because we have been there before."
Davies paid tribute to the level of competition. The champions
were pushed all the way in the semi final, eventually beating
Manchester 9-7 before another tough match in the final.
The veteran of 142 internationals said: "It is nice
to see that it is tight in the top four teams. It has got
to be good for the women's game and for the national team."
Sheffield head coach Paul Reader echoed those sentiments.
"This is the closest season for a long time," said
Reader. "We have won the National League five times on
the trot. But the problem with being at the top is you are
there to be knocked off the pedestal. It is a credit to the
girls to keep themselves up there."
Lancaster captain Chris Hartley attributed his team's victory
to hard work and the number of winners in the squad.
Scott Carpenter and Tom Curwen regularly found the back of
the net but the experienced heads of Hartley, Colin Burgess,
Jamie McIlquham, Rysz Detko and goalkeeper Dave Bush are invaluable
to Lancaster's continued success.
"We had to play hard," said Hartley. "We don't
like losing - it leaves a bad taste. It helps to have three
of the best players in the country in Tom, Scott and Andy
(Squires) - that makes a difference. A lot of hard work went
into that and it was a big team effort."
Tom Curwen scored three goals in the semi-final win over
Portobello and six in the final and was the competition's
top scorer after 17 goals in the preliminary round.
"They score the goals, we just put in the effort for
them," joked Hartley. "They are now getting to the
stage when they win matches for us."
Rotherham captain Mark Wade was disappointed with his team's
performance. "We finished fifth in the National League
so to get to the final here is a bonus," Wade said. "But
to then not perform in the final was disappointing. They are
a big, physically strong side and we couldn't cope with them."
MATCH REPORTS
Women's bronze
MANCHESTER 11 PENGUIN 8
Manchester claimed the bronze medal with captain Kate Lewis
leading by example with four goals.
Penguin scored first through Paloma Vejerano, who went on
to score four goals herself, but Manchester were always in
front. Penguin won the third quarter with goals from Vejerano
and Clair Martin but Manchester bounced back to win the final
quarter and seal victory.
Result: 11-8 (5-3; 2-2; 1-2; 3-1)
Manchester: 1 Robyn Nicholls, 2 Kate Lewis
(captain, 4 goals), 3 Alex Rutlidge, 4 Becky Kershaw, 5 Chloe
Wilcox (3), 6 Ros Griffiths, 7 Vicki Hawkins (2), 8 Siobhan
Hoy, 9 Aine Hoy (1), 10 Victoria Hawkins, 11 Sarah Pimblett
(1), 12 Ita Kettleborough, 13 Briony Rutlidge
Penguin: 1 Katie Collins, 2 Tasja Botha,
3 Lisa Boddington, 4 Charlotte Hanson (2 goals), 5 Paloma
Vejerano (4), 6 Sonjo van der Lans (1), 7 Rebecca Fraser,
8 Charlie Parkinson, 9 Lis Holmes, 10 Clair Martin (1), 11
Alex Andrews, 12 Lorrelle Dooley, 13 Sarah Berisford
Women's final
SHEFFIELD 6 LIVERPOOL 4
Sheffield claimed their third consecutive title in a tight
and tense encounter.
The reigning champions leaned on their experience from previous
years to overcome a robust Liverpool. Bernice Cowton and Laura
Evans each scored twice for Sheffield who took the lead in
the first quarter and were never behind.
The scores were level two apiece at half-time but Sheffield
ground out the win in the second-half.
Evans finished well after Carol Mohan's cross cage pass with
one minute 49 seconds to go in the third, and Sheffield extended
their lead to two goals through Fran Leighton in the fourth.
The centre-forward's persistence paid off as she turned her
marker and shot beyond Rosie Morris.
Three-goal Kathryn Dacre pulled one back for Liverpool ,
but Evans scored again as the National League champions won
the title.
Result: 6-4 (1-0; 1-2; 2-1; 2-1)
Sheffield: 1 Tara Smith, 2 Dominique Gale,
3 Bernice Cowton (2 goals), 4 Victoria Ibbertson, 5 Sally
Rangecroft (1), 6 Elizabeth Bullivant, 8 Larissa Davies (captain),
9 Victoria Bowen, 10 Laura Evans (2), 11 Emily Naughton, 12
Frances Leighton (1), 13 Carol Mohan
Liverpool: 1 Rosie Morris, 2 Louisa Lickless,
3 Fiona McCann, 4 Rebecca Benson, 5 Alison Green, 6 Macha
van den Heuvel, 7 Lorainne Sudre, 8 Hazel Musgrove, 9 Hannah
Wild, 10 Nichola Ross, 12 Kathryn Dacre (3 goals), 13 Siobhan
Winter (1)
Men's bronze
PORTOBELLO 14 CHELTENHAM 19
Cheltenham defeated Portobello with a final quarter demolition
job. David Taylor led the charge with nine goals.
The Edinburgh side imploded after Keith Anderson, one of
their most influential players, suffered a dislocated shoulder
with one minute to go in the third period.
Portobello responded well after the 30 minute break with
Bruce Elder pulling the Scots within one goal of Cheltenham.
However, Cheltenham scored five goals in the first two-and-a-half
minutes of the final period to complete the win.
The West Countrymen had not been in front until, with one
minute 48 seconds left in the third, Max Gerasimov scored.
Anderson was then injured as he attempted a shot.
Result: 14-19 (3-2; 4-3; 5-8; 2-6)
Portobello: 1 Ramon Valvona, 2 David Fleming,
3 Gary Ward (1 goal), 4 Keith Anderson, 5 Neilson Rutherford
(1), 6 Tom Cramond (1), 7 Mark Bayliss (1), 8 Gary Simons,
9 James Scobie, 10 Barry Davidson (2), 11 Ben Johnston, 12
Bruce Elder (4), 13 Frazer Rutherford (4)
Cheltenham: 1 Mike Cowdell, 2 Adam Hayter,
3 Andrew McCallister (1), 4 Will Middleton (1), 5 Max Gerasimov
(2), 6 Mark Taylor, 7 Tom Brown, 8 Dave Edwards, 9 Rob Parker
(2), 10 Nigel Greenwood, 11 Adam Legge (2), 12 David Taylor
(captain, 9), 13 James Ross (1)
Men's final
LANCASTER CITY 15 ROTHERHAM METRO
4
Favourites Lancaster triumphed over Rotherham to lift their
fifth consecutive title.
The reigning champions were relentless in their pursuit of
success with Tom Curwen, the competition's leading scorer,
claiming six goals.
Lancaster scored five goals in the third period to kill off
any hopes of a Rotherham comeback after a half-time score
of 7-3.
Rotherham missed chances and Lancaster punished any mistakes
for a convincing win.
Result: 15-4 (4-1; 3-2; 5-1; 3-0)
Lancaster: 1 Dave Bush, 2 James Wannup (1
goal), 3 Colin Burgess (2), 4 Jamie McIlquham (1), 5 Chris
Hartley (1), 6 Glen Robinson, 7 Tom Curwen (6), 8 Scott Carpenter
(3), 9 Andy Squires (1), 10 Ryan Pinnington, 11 Rysz Detko,
12 Ciaran James, 13 Zak Sly
Rotherham: 1 Matthew Birch, 2 James Paterson,
3 Neil Swainson (2), 4 Paul Gregory, 5 Chris Kirby, 6 Chris
Armstrong, 7 Mark Wade (1), 8 Alastair McQueen, 9 Dan Stocker,
10 Adam Scholefield (1), 11 Richard Leighton, 12 Nick Caulfield,
13 Paul Floyd
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