National Titles Secured in Manchester
2nd July 2007Senior 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.