Penguin and Exeter guaranteed progress to men’s Championship 1 with easy wins in Division 2 at Watford today.

Four goals without reply in the opening period set Penguin on course to a 16-6 victory over the home club, maintaining their 100 per cent record from five matches. James Salt (4), Andrea Tulli (3) and Mehmet Arat (3) were the chief scorers. Exeter brushed aside struggling Otter 24-6.
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It was a good second day for the Scottish teams. Portobello beat Sutton & Cheam 13-9, with Luca Pollock (4), Ben Scott (3) and Ed Grundy (3) leading the scoring. Caledonia’s third win of the weekend – 14-9 against Manchester Hawks – featured an outstanding display by Darren Campbell (Photo: Trevor Hyde), who scored seven.

Cheltenham Spartans’ winning run in men’s Division 3 came to a spectacular end at Watford today – beaten 19-5 by Worthing, whose top marksmen were Ben Curtis and George Wood, both with five.

Two hundred miles up country at Bolton, Hucknall completed their third win of the weekend – 14-9 against Durham Palatinates - to ensure a place in Championship 2 in the second half of the season. The teams were evenly matched until Hucknall scored six in the third period, including four by Sam Joyce (Photo: Trevor Hyde), who finished with a match tally of six.
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Goals in the last two minutes by Reece Caunce, Mat Lawtey and Mark Lister earned Castleford a 12-8 victory in an otherwise close match against City of Birmingham. Andy McAllister (4) and Tom Andrews (3) led the way for Croydon, who beat City of Bristol 12-9.

Caledonia enjoyed a great day out at the Jason Kenny pool, Bolton, beating Portobello 16-10 in the Scottish derby and then snatching a dramatic 11-10 victory over Sutton & Cheam.

The Portobello clash was a close affair until goals by Darren Campbell, Rory Nesbitt, Dominique Zahra and Ali Campbell took Caledonia clear in the final stages.

That proved to be fairly routine compared with the Sutton match, which saw Caledonia twice trail before snatching victory with a Chris Campbell goal 1.25 from the end.

Sutton led 7-2 at one stage, then 10-7. But there was a tremendous Scottish rally in the last five minutes as Finlay Nesbitt, Ali Campbell and Dominique Zahra all scored. Then Chris Campbell fired the winner.  

The final game of the day at Watford saw a crunch meeting of Exeter and Penguin, the two sides with maximum points, each from three games. It turned into a one-sided affair as the Londoners triumphed 22-9, recovering from 3-2 down after the first period to lead 10-5 at halftime - and then piling on another nine goals in the final quarter.

Earlier, Exeter defeated Watford 16-11. Adrian Carrieri (4) and Sam Alberici (3) led the scoring. Penguin hammered Otter 22-8, including five goals from Bence Kadar.

Portobello had better luck in their second game, defeating Manchester Hawks 12-10 thanks to late goals by Yalin Gulen, Ben Scott – his fourth of the match – and Ed Grundy.
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Photo (Trevor Hyde): Adrian Carrieri, white 10, scores one of his goals against Watford today.

Hucknall continued their confident progress in men's Division 3, making it seven points from four games with a 14-13 victory over Castleford, then an 8-3 defeat of Birmingham.

The Castleford game was a triumph for Matt Braun, who claimed a seven-goal haul. His team dominated the late stages after the sides were level at 8-8 after two periods. Matt Lawtey also netted seven for Castleford.

Croydon were 6-5 up after three periods against Worthing, but then goals by Ben Curtis (2), Sam Cooper, Jo Martins and Jamie Bond put Worthing in charge and secured a 10-8 win. Worthing lost their second match, 10-7 to Bristol, who relied on strikes from Stuart Fennell (2) and Steffan Williams to secure the points in the last quarter.
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It was also a dominant final period that secured Birmingham’s 11-6 victory over Durham Palatinates. Simon Halstead, Alun Chesworth-Rickards, Jason Culloo and Ben Cartwright were all on target. 

Cheltenham Spartans remain the only team with a 100 per cent record after beating Croydon 16-13. Youngster George Glover (Photo: Trevor Hyde) was again the star of the show, with seven goals.

Coventry made their Super 5s progression virtually certain by completing an impressive hat-trick of wins in women’s Division 1 at the local Alan Higgs Centre. Today’s success – 16-12 against Liverpool Lizards – featured five goals by Amy Berry and four from Sophie Linney.

Champions Manchester maintained their easy progress to the Super 5s by making it four wins from four matches. Brooke Tafazolli claimed a hat-trick in the 11-6 victory over her former club Otter.
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Sheffield Sharks beat Caledonia 15-10, with Bernice Cowton (4), Danielle Eliot (3) and Amelia Peters (3) on target. India Wilkinson (4) and Kayleigh Schultz (3) led the Hucknall scoring in a 9-7 defeat of Tyldesley.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Anna Motley scores Sheffield Sharks' first goal against Caledonia today.

Exeter are the only undefeated team in women’s Division 2 after winning a close contest with Rotherham Metro 9-6 at Marlborough College today.
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Liverpool Liver Birds went down 9-5 to Mid Sussex Marlins, who broke clear with goals by Caitlin Silk, Lauren Hand, Maisie Standen and Eve Tidy after the game was locked at 5-5 in the third period. 

BWPL’s first visit to the splendid new Alan Higgs Centre, Coventry, saw Otter pushed all the way before defeating Hucknall 7-6 in women’s Division 1 today.

With Katy Cutler scoring four, the London side hardly seemed under pressure as they improved a 5-2 lead to 7-3 towards the end of the third period. Emily Rickards immediately pulled one back for Hucknall and further Hucknall goals soon followed in the last quarter from Anna Lord and Mia Lovell.  Otter took the points but will be relieved that their opponents couldn’t convert two man-up chances near the end.

Later, Otter outplayed Sheffield Sharks 18-8, including five goals from Mhari Nurthan and four from Rebecca Mulcahy. Hucknall, also playing their second match, found Liverpool Lizards too strong, losing 19-7 after Molly Boniface-Ashton netted four in the opening period.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Coventry's Hannah Ashley, white cap, confront Toni Farey, of Tyldelsey at Coventry today. Coventry won 16-4.

The sharp shooting of Emily Crossley, plus the commanding influence of GB Olympics captain Fran Leighton, ensured double success for Rotherham Metro in women’s Division 2 at Marlborough College today.

Emily warmed up by bagging six goals in a 21-6 stroll against City of Birmingham. She added another nine – taking her tally this season to 25 – as Rotherham battled to overcome City of Bristol 13-10.

Liverpool Liver Birds were 4-0 adrift after the first quarter against Welsh Wanderers but then burst into life, taking the lead in the second at 5-4 with goals by Holly Rooney (3), Amelie Cornell and Charlotte Bett on the way to an 11-7 victory.
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Mid Sussex Marlins edged out Sheffield Stingrays 12-11 as Caitlin Silk notched four for the winners in the final period, giving her seven for the match.

​Solihull resisted a gallant Welsh Wanderers fightback to snatch a 13-12 victory in men's Division 1 at Ponds Forge today.

Wanderers trailed 8-4 towards the end of the second period but recovered to trail 10-8 at the end of the third - and then draw level at 10-10 with goals by Joe Jenkins-Delf and Matt Griffiths.

​As excitement mounted, the game went to 11-11, then 12-12, before Oliver Vodden netted the winner from a man-up chance 2.14 from the end.  Jake Vincent scored four of the Solihull goals.

Later, Manchester won again - 17-8 against Polytechnic, including a seven-goal haul for Dan Paddon. Then Cheltenham eased to a 16-5 victory over Lancaster.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Cheltenham's Jake Polster, white cap, takes on Jacob Darlington, of Lancaster. 

Chris Taylor and Matt Veale both scored six times as Newport outplayed Tyldesley 20-11 in Division 4. The Army raced into a 6-0 lead against Bridgefield and eventually won 16-12.

In Division 5, Coventry and Caledonia Storm drew 15-15, Coventry levelling for the last time when Rob Williams scored his fifth goal.

Meet the Masked Marauder . . . or, to reveal his true identity, 19-year-old James Bushell, Coventry's goalkeeper.

Why the mask? A while ago, the Sheffield Hallam student underwent surgery on his nose to ease a long-standing breathing problem. 

He was desperate to carry on playing in BWPL. "So I spent £40 on the protective mask on Amazon and gave it a try in training," he explained. "It didn't impair my vision. And it also protected me when I took a couple of blows to the face. So I just decided to keep it and carry on playing."

Photo (Trevor Hyde): James in action at Ponds Forge today.