WATER POLO: POLAND EARN LAST-GASP WIN OVER BRITAIN IN CONTROVERSIAL
END TO GAME
GREAT BRITAIN 8 POLAND 9
A dramatic goal 2.4 seconds from time led to a 9-8 defeat
of Great Britain by Poland on Day Four of the LEN European
Nations Trophy at Manchester Aquatics Centre.
However, the match was marred by two controversial moments
in the final 30 seconds when two refereeing decisions went
against Britain. Coach Eelco Uri is likely to protest after
venting his frustrations on the final buzzer.
Firstly, Poland's Robert Sekula - one of three Poland players
to foul out of the game - failed to exit the pool in the correct
way - a move which should have seen a penalty awarded to Britain.
Then, after Poland's strike, Britain were denied the chance
to set up an attack in an attempt to find an equaliser following
a time out.
It was a thrilling contest, level right until the moment
of Tomasz Rozycki's winner, his fourth of the game. Cheltenham's
Alex Parsonage and Lancaster's Tom Curwen each scored twice,
Curwen taking his tally for the competition to 19.
Rotherham centre forward Adam Scholefield caused Poland trouble
early on, winning two extra-man opportunities and from the
second Cheltenham's Rob Parker received the ball from club-mate
Alex Parsonage to open the scoring.
Parsonage was alert to feed Mark Banwell, who had won the
exclusion of Wojciech Leszek - his second of the game - to
fire a quick second goal. But then Poland hit back. Rozycki
drilled the ball beyond Manchester goalkeeper Ed Scott from
the right wing, and Rozycki scored his second to level.
Left-hander Parsonage turned from provider to finisher when
he scored from the right wing after Scholefield had been fouled
by Marek Debski. Britain doubled their advantage when Scott
fed Parker on the fast break who in turn found Curwen, and
the Lancaster man scored his first of the game.
Scott denied Piotr Wojcik before Poland pulled one back when
Marcin Scierwicki's shot was deflected under Scott's arm.
Poland scored again when Rozycki converted following Craig
Figes' major.
Uri called a time out when Wojcik was excluded and from the
resulting man-up Parsonage claimed his second of the game.
Wojcik equalised again for Poland as the half ended all-square.
Poland tried to impose themselves on the host nation with
a physical press in the third period and they took the lead
when Rafal Wocik scored an outside shot.
Midway through the quarter, Banwell was fouled by Adam Perka
and Curwen scored from the five-metre penalty mark to level.
But Poland edged in front once more through Perka's shot from
six metres. Figes replied with a goal from the centre forward
position to equalise with 1 minute 20 seconds to go in the
third.
Leszek received his third personal foul before Scott denied
Wojcik with a fabulous reflex save. Michal Bar and Debski
were excluded simultaneously, with the latter earning his
third major, and Scholefield put Britain ahead.
Sekula fed Wojcik to equalise before receiving his third
exclusion. Poland called a time-out with 20.2 seconds remaining
after Britain had failed to convert the man-up. Wojcik did
not leave the pool through the exclusion box and was substituted.
Britain should then have been awarded a penalty, but the referees
failed to intervene.
>From the Polish time-out Rozycki scored from the left
wing, Scott
>half-blocking the shot which had too much power and travelled
over the
>line with 2.4 seconds remaining.
Britain used their second time out, but again time elapsed
before they could set up their attack and the game was lost.
Result: 8-9 (2-2; 3-3; 2-2; 1-2)
Great Britain: 1 Ed Scott, 2 Sean Ryder,
3 Mark Banwell (1 goal), 4 Scott Carpenter, 5 Craig Figes
(Capt, 1), 6 Andrew Squires, 7 Alex Parsonage (2), 8 Tom Curwen
(2), 9 Rob Parker (1), 10 Adam Scholefield (1), 11 Chris Gilbertson,
12 Matthew Thresher, 13 Matthew Birch
Poland: 1 Michal Diakonow (Capt), 2 Marcin
Scierwicki (1 goal), 3 Piotr Michalski, 4 Adam Perka (1),
5 Marek Debski, 6 Pawel Ulchurski, 7 Tomasz Rozycki (4), 8
Michal Bar, 9 Radoslaw Haraczko, 10 Robert Sekula, 11 Piotr
Wojcik (2), 12 Wojciech Leszek, 13 Rafal Wocik (1)
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