Watford were easy winners of their first men's Championship 2 fixture of the season, defeating Worthing 11-6 at Gloucester.

The sides were level at 2-2 after the first period but Watford dominated the second, scoring six goals - by Andy Holt, Ciaran Walshe, Ilija Mustur, Danny Davis, James Warman and Drazen Kujacic - with only one against. Kuracic finished with three goals.

​Croydon Amphibians outplayed Birmingham 20-10, including goals by Csaba Rekasi (5), Jon Cannon (3), Alfonso Tucay (3) and Kevin Steele (3). 

​Welsh Wanderers lost for the first time - 9-8 to Southampton, whose winner three minutes from the end was claimed by Anand Vaithilingam.

​Watford won again - 19-11 against Ealing - with Ilija Mustur again on target with seven goals.

Caledonia won for the third time in the opening weekend of women's Championship 1 action at Walsall. Opponents Manchester Comets were ahead for much of the game - 4-0, 7-4 and then 9-8 with three and a half minutes remaining. But Caledonia produced the stronger finish, going clear at 11-9 thanks to late goals by Hannah Edwards and Gael Logan.

​Sheffield Sharks were far too strong for Otter Lutra, amassing eight goals without reply by the start of the second period. Eventually, they won 18-7, including four goals by Victoria Bowen.

​A last minute goal by Millie Boucher clinched Welsh Wanderers' 6-5 victory over Liverpool Liver Birds. Like the Wanderers, Hucknall picked up their first win - 11-4 against Penguin Emperors.

​Later, Welsh Wanderers won again - 8-6 against Otter Lutra - with late goals by Milly Wordley and Nia Sanders. Sheffield drew level on points with Caledoniaby completing a hat-trick of victories - 15-5 against Liverpool Liver Birds.  

A goal just three seconds from the end earned Penguin an 11-11 draw with Sheffield in men's Championship 1 at Watford today - a result that was a huge bonus for Invicta, who will start the final weekend next month a precious point clear at the top of nearest rivals Sheffield and with a great chance of grabbing the title.

​Nothing is guaranteed, of course. One of Invicta's remaining games is against Penguin, who, it seems, can be guaranteed to produce a nail-biting finale to any match. Having won their first fixture yesterday 13-12, then lost the second 13-14, they indulged in another goal fest against Sheffield, who edged into an 11-10 lead with more than a minute remaining thanks to goals by Elliot Kelly and Tom Grieve.

​Penguin then missed a man-up chance. But they claimed both their time-outs in the last 33 seconds - and it was Claudio Bagnoli who notched the late, late equaliser. Bence Kadar scored five for Penguin.

​Earlier, Invicta beat Bristol 13-11, building a comfortable lead - including four goals by Nick Jackson - before their opponents countered with seven in the final period. Polytechnic's 14-9 victory over bottom team Exeter featured seven goals by Chris Icely (pictured by Trevor Hyde).

The one remaining unbeaten record in the highly-competitive men's Championship 1 disappeared when Sheffield slumped to a shock 14-11 defeat by Polytechnic at Watford.

​Poly may have been disappointed to lose their derby match with Penguin earlier in the day, but it hardly showed. The crunch period in the match was the second period when the Londoners scored five goals without reply through Brian Hoy (2), Chris Icely (2) and Jorge Herrando Garijo, transforming an early 3-2 deficit into a commanding 7-3 lead.

​Sheffield recovered their composure and reduced Poly's advantage to 13-11 in the final quarter. But a late man-up goal from Chris Brown was enough to ensure the points for a rejuvenated Poly team.

​In the West Country derby, Exeter held a brief 5-4 lead against Bristol (now playing under the City of Bristol banner instead of Bristol Central) but were then outplayed. Hat-tricks by Tamas Csendes, Craig Figes and Ashley Castle clinched a 16-7 Bristol win.

Team Northumbria left it late to snatch victory over Penguin, 14-13. Penguin held a narrow lead for much of the game and began the last quarter 13-11 up. Then man-up conversions by ex-GB captain Neil Bowers and John Pratt brought Northumbria level - and in a cliffhanger finish, Bowers claimed the winner with 1 minute 20 seconds remaining. Pratt scored seven of Northumbria's goals.

Caledonia completed their second win of the day at Walsall - but the clash with Hucknall was a close-run affair.

​In fact, Hucknall went into the final period with a narrow 8-7 lead. But it was one-way traffic after that as Caledonia scored four times without reply to win 11-8. Hannah Edwards was outstanding for Caledonia, claiming six goals.

​Manchester Comets drew for the second time - 6-6 with Penguin Emperors. Neither side managed a goal in the final quarter, despite two time-outs by each side and four exclusions.

​There was also a draw - 10-10 - between Otter Lutra and Liverpool Liver Birds. Otter went 10-8 up early in the final quarter through Nahn van Wyk and Lidia Toth before Verity McCoy and Lucy Shaw replied for Liverpool.

Old rivals West London Penguin and Polytechnic served up a thriller in the first game of the men's Championship 1 programme at Watford today, Penguin grabbing the points with a 13-12 win.

​Penguin had led 8-4 at one stage in the second period but were then hit by a rapid five-goal response from Poly. It was 10-9 to Poly three minutes from the end of the third quarter, prompting a rally from Penguin, who charged into a 13-10 lead.

​Poly had recovered to trail 13-12 with three minutes to go, setting up a nervy finale in which both sides failed to convert man-up opportunities. Claudio Bagnoli (5) and Bence Kadar (3) dominated the Penguin scoring. The main goal threat from Poly came from Chris Brown (5) and Chris Icely (4).

​Late goals by Callum Bailey (2) and Jack Waller clinched an 11-8 victory for Invicta over Sutton & Cheam.

​Picture (by Trevor Hyde): Penguin's Claudio Bagnoli.

Caledonia opened the women's Championship 1 campaign at Walsall today with a comfortable 11-6 victory over Penguin Emperors.

​The Scots took charge in the second period, scoring four times without reply. On target with two goals each were Emma Bird, Hannah Edwards, Jennifer Davis and Susan Johnstone.

​Robyn Greenslade's third goal just under two minutes from the end earned Manchester Comets a 5-5 draw with Hucknall.

​Milly Wordley scored seven for Welsh Wanderers - and still ended on the losing side against Sheffield Sharks, who won 13-11. Sheffield were 8-2 up before Wordley spearheaded a Welsh revival. Bernice Cowton netted four times for the winners. 

Welsh Wanderers completed a perfect start to the men's Championship 2 season at Grantham, beating Cambridge 17-7 today to make it three wins from three matches.

​Ealing's Marius Jacimcikas amassed nine goals in his team's 23-11 victory over Birmingham. There were hat-tricks for Adam Aubeelack, Anton Sugoniak and Jurijus Galinok.

After losing to York in their opening men's Championship 3 match, Portobello bounced back with a 12-6 victory over Manchester Hawks at Grantham today.

​The Scots led from the start, building an 8-2 lead by the halfway stage. There were hat-tricks for Neilson Rutherford and Hadrien Collineau.

​Castleford drew for a second time - 9-9 against York. Once again, the finale was a real nail-biter, with Castleford wiping out a 9-5 York lead to level with a Luke Franks goals 24 seconds from the end. Castleford then suffered exclusions with 17 seconds, then six seconds, remaining - but without York being able to grab a winner.