NATIONAL TITLES SECURED IN MANCHESTER
Senior sides Cheltenham (men) and Manchester (women) collected
national water polo titles at the 2007 ASA Championships in
Manchester at the weekend.
The Junior Ladies' competition kicked off the finals day
of the Championships with home-side Manchester facing North
West rivals Liverpool.
Manchester started quickly and kept their lead until the
end of the 2nd quarter when Liverpool fought back to equalise
2 all. This was a close tackle game, with a lot of possession
play and subsequent major fouls, but slowly the Manchester
girls began to pull the scoring ahead, so that the 3rd quarter
finished at 6-4, and despite a goalkeeping change for Liverpool,
the final score was 9-5.
The next match was the Youth Boys - Lancaster v Bristol.
After the close fought semi final match the day before against
Manchester, some of the Lancaster boys were complaining of
feeling a little weary but, once in the pool, they established
a 5-1 lead by the end of the first quarter. The second quarter
saw the score increase to 12-3, so despite a valiant rally
in the third quarter, the exhausted Bristol lads had to finish
the match 19-7.
The Youth Girls competition was the other Liverpool v Manchester
game. Again, the two teams squared up to a challenging match
although this time it was Liverpool who scored three goals
in the 1st quarter - a lead which Manchester could never quite
pull back. This was also the match of saved penalties. The
final score was 7-4.
National Performance Director Nick Hume watched games with
interest, alongside other coaches involved in the Youth and
Junior programmes. Hume commented that the new ASA Championships
would be reviewed as a competition and that British Water
Polo hoped to build on the "robust framework" of
this year.
GB Women's Coach Szilveszter Fekete watched in the spectators'
gallery as the Ladies finals were played at lunchtime.
Manchester played Sheffield. With half of each squad having
been GB teammates in Prague, this was another strongly contested
match of players not conceding possession without a tussle.
Manchester scored well during the first quarter, and although
the Sheffield team looked like pulling back with concerted
attempts at goal, the fourth quarter penalty for Manchester,
converted by captain Kate Lewis, put the match too far out
of reach and the score ended 9-7.
The pitch size changed for the next two matches - the first
of which was the junior male competition. Sutton and Cheam
played Invicta, distinctive in their Green caps. Once again,
this was a match of GB Junior team-mates, and most of both
teams' players had been members of the South Regional Training
Centre. It was pit player Stephen Bayles who opened the scoring
for Sutton and Cheam in the first quarter, but Invicta kept
up the pressure on the GB Junior goalkeeper Matt Holland,
who showed the full range of his skills. An equaliser from
Jack Waller early in the second quarter kept up the pressure
on both goalkeepers. By the end of the third quarter the score
was 5 all, but after a penalty in the fourth quarter gave
Invicta a 2-goal lead, the score ended 6-9 after Jack Waller
scored with just 10 seconds to go!
The final match of the day was the Men's' final. Cheltenham
vs Rotherham. These two National League sides have always
played a high standard of competition, even though the score
does not reflect the fact that this was such an evenly matched
contest. Cheltenham managed to pull ahead with a 5-0 lead
at the end of the first quarter, four of which, including
one penalty, were scored by Dave Taylor. Rotherham dug in
during the second quarter, with a hold up during the third
quarter to try to find a replacement hat. The last quarter
saw everything thrown at the game - there were 5 major fouls
- and Rotherham staged a final scoring comeback thanks to
Messrs Kirby and Wade. Cheltenham won the match, however,
12-8.
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