City of Coventry and Chelmsford battled through the BWPL qualifying tournament at Walsall today to book places in BWPL men's Division 5 at the start of next season.

​The qualifying competition saw four teams contest three vacancies in 2017/18 alongside Bedford, Warwick, Caledonia Storm, Leeds and Sheffield Dolphins.

​Coventry, who last played National League men's water polo seven years ago - and spent four seasons in the top division before that - had little difficult securing their place, winning all three matches.

​It was far less straightforward for Chelmsford, a club that last took part in the men's National League 17 years ago. Much depended on their final match against Spalding, who were seeking to retain their BWPL membership after finishing in the bottom three in Division 5 last season.

​Victory went to Chelmsford - 8-5 - and so Spalding drop out. The third place went to Watford Saxons, whose only defeat was against Coventry - 10-5. See Results page for more details. 

English Roses Masters, fresh from winning promotion to women's Division 2 next season, are off on their travels again - to Iceland!

​After trips in the past five years to Italy, Hungary and Croatia, they have accepted an invitation to take part in Iceland's national championships at the country's national swimming centre in Reykjavik, 25-28 May. The hosts hope to attract other British teams - men and women - to take part, so, if you are interested, contact organiser Glen Moyle, glennmoyle@gmail.com, for more information.

She may be only 16, but City of Manchester's Annie Clapperton (Picture, Trevor Hyde) ended the season as top scorer in the women's Super 5s - consolation, perhaps, for her team losing the title to Liverpool.

Annie, who will receive her trophy at the BWPL annual meeting on 14 May, finished the campaign with 19, ahead of two former winners - Kathryn Fowler, of Liverpool (16) and Fran Clayton, of Coventry (15).

​No prizes for guessing the winner of the men's award! Lancaster's Tom Curwen topped the hotshots for a third consecutive year on 26 - four ahead of teammate Glen Robinson and Cheltenham's Rob Parker. 

Cheltenham produced a champions' performance to defeat City of Manchester 18-9 in the final match of the Super 5s programme at Gloucester today.

Spanish twins Albert  and Marc Tarres scored a goal each to mark their final appearances for Cheltenham before heading off to Australia to continue their water polo careers. Cheltenham always held the advantage after racing into a 5-1 first period lead. Rob Parker finished with four goals.

Photo (Trevor Hyde) - L-R, back row: Mark Banwell (with son George!), Cian Mulcahy, Rob Parker, Marc Tarras, Max Gerasimov, Sam Legge. Front: Will Rayson, Rudi Polster, Jake Polster, skipper Michael Thomas, Will Middleton, Joel Thomas, Albert Tarras.

Liverpool Lizards beat their old rivals City of Manchester 5-3 at Gloucester today to take the women's Super 5s title for a third year.

The game slipped into something of a stalemate early on. In fact, defences were so tight that 18 minutes and 12 seconds elapsed without a goal!

Lizards built a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals by Kathryn Fowler. And it wasn't until late in the third that the advantage increased to 4-1 through man-up goals by Hazel Musgrove and Fowler. When Musgrove scored again early in the final period to make it 5-1, Liverpool appeared to be in the clear.

Otter rounded off their British League season at Gloucester today with a 16-9 victory over Leeds Sharks. After an even start, the London club took charge, scoring six in the second period.

Claudia Ferrone (4) and Fabiana Anastasio (3) led the Otter scoring. Also on target was Peggy Etiebet - on her birthday! Peggy is pictured in action today by Trevor Hyde.

Liverpool Lizards beat Coventry 15-4 at Gloucester this evening (18 March) to set up the eagerly-anticipated Super 5s winner-takes-all clash tomorrow with Manchester.

Manchester hold a one-point lead over the reigning champions. So while a draw will suit Manchester, Liverpool know they must repeat their victory - 4-3 - when the sides met earlier in the season.

In their demanding second game of the day, Lancaster defeated Solihull 14-10 to finish the men's Super 5s season as runners-up to Cheltenham.

Solihull, who have had an excellent first season at this level, were 4-3 ahead towards the end of the second period and still very much in contention at the start of the fourth when Lancaster had edged 9-8 ahead.

But Lancaster's extra experience showed in the last as goals by Alex Parsonage (2), Scott Sharpe, Ryan Pinnington and Tom Curwen secured the points.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Strong defence from Lancaster goalkeeper Marc Robinson and Ed Grundy as Jake Vincent goes for goal.

Otter's interests in the women's Super 5s title struggle ended today when they were beaten 14-5 by Manchester at Gloucester.

The result opened up the prospect of a winner-takes-all meeting between Manchester and Liverpool tomorrow - if Liverpool manage to win their match against Coventry this evening.

The success against Otter featured three goals by the division's leading scorer Annie Clapperton - plus three each for Ella Chadderton and Isobel Howe.

Photo (Trevor Hyde) : Manchester goalkeeper Jade Smith in action against Otter.

Coventry were comfortable 14-8 winners against Leeds Sharks in the meeting of the women's Super 5s bottom teams at Gloucester today.

Claire Walmsley, Elizabeth Kennedy and Sophie Linney scored hat-tricks for Coventry while there were also three goals each for Leeds' Nilacala Ward and Miriam Ridha.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Rachel Thompson, of Coventry (blue cap) battles with Nilacala Ward.