The battle for the women's Super 5s title looks certain to provide plenty of drama next weekend for the Sky Sports cameras.

​Otter's long journey to Lancaster for the hastily-rearranged group of matches was richly rewarded as they pulled off a 5-4 victory over champions Liverpool Lizards and picked up two more points when Sheffield Sharks withdrew due to weather problems.

​The London side's success leaves them a point above Liverpool with two games to play and two points above Manchester. So a three-way struggle for honours is guaranteed at Haberdasher's School, with Otter's clash against Manchester one of the key fixtures.

​Liverpool recovered from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 at one stage in their match with Otter, but a Robyn Greenslade goal and Katie Cutler penalty edged Otter 4-3 up at the end of the third period. Cutler netted again halfway through the last  and Liverpool were unable to reply until they converted a penalty with 42 seconds left on the clock.

After beating Cheltenham at Gloucester on Saturday, Solihull ventured north and hammered Lancaster 22-6 at the Lancaster pool today. The men's Super 5s title is almost theirs - although mathematically there is still a distant chance that Manchester could challenge.

All will be settled at the divisional finale at Haberdashers' Aske's School next weekend, to be featured on Sky Sports. Solihull still have to play Manchester and Polytechnic.

Portobello wrapped up the men's Championship 2 title at Hinckley in style, demolishing Croydon Amphibians 22-6. The battle for second place was a completely different affair - Penguin beat Welsh Wanderers 13-12 thanks to Richard Walker's fourth goal 10 seconds from the end. Consolation for the Wanderers is that they, too, start next season in Division 2.

​Above: Champions Portobello with their trophy and medals. L-R: Hadrien Collineau, Neilson Rutherford, Ramon Valvona (coach), Fraser Rutherford, Colin Wood, Ben Scott, Luca Pollock, Mario Alvarez, Clayton Woods, Bojan Donevski. 

City of Sheffield beat Invicta 13-9 at Gloucester's GL1 pool today to claim the men's Championship 1 honours.

Appropriately, the meeting of the division's two undefeated teams decided the title, Invicta requiring a minimum of a draw and Sheffield a win.

Callum Bailey's fine shooting - he scored six times - kept Invicta in the game for a long period and his strike early in the third period made it 6-6. But the remaining minutes of that quarter saw Sheffield edge clear as a superb, top corner shot from Fin Powell and an immediate breakaway goal by Chris Armstrong helped establish a 9-6 lead. Armstrong, Callum Carpenter and Joel Abbott all finished with hat-tricks for Sheffield.

The third promotion place went to Team Northumbria, who beat Sutton & Cheam 15-11, and finished level on points with Caledonia, 16-14 winners against Exeter. Northumbria went up by virtue of their 11-10 victory over the Scots in January!

​Pictures (Trevor Hyde) - above: Invicta under pressure in their crunch meeting with Sheffield. Below: The Sheffield squad with their trophy and medals. Back row (L-R): Paul Readers (Assistant Coach), Martin Kelly (coach). Middle: Ben Stephenson, Liam Humphreys, Drew Winstanley, Shay Holden, George Reader, Alex Gaywood. Front: Joel Abbott, Chris Armstrong, Josh Smith, Elliot Kelly, Connor Carpenter, Alex Tollefson, Fin Parnell.

Coventry came within an ace of beating Women's Super 5s title challengers Manchester at Lancaster today.

The last period began with Coventry 4-3 ahead. Isobel Howe equalised for Manchester, but almost immediately Vicki Hawkins restored a one-goal Coventry lead.

In a tense finale, Coventry missed a penalty with 1.18 to go. And it enabled Manchester to level at 5-5 through Courtney Dean - with just 15 seconds remaining!

Sheffield Sharks were unable to field a team due to weather problems in the north, gifting two points to each of their scheduled opponents, Otter and Manchester. Liverpool Lizards' pursuit of a fourth title continued as they beat Coventry 9-6, including two goals each for Beth Bolton, Matie Hesketh and Laura Hesketh. 

Impressive Solihull stormed to an 18-10 men's Super 5s victory at Gloucester today and are now on the verge of clinching their first title.

The Midlanders led from the start, building a 6-2 lead in the first period and moving to 14-6 by the early stages of the third. Matt Madden was again in fine shooting form for Solihull, scoring five times - a tally Rob Parker achieved for Cheltenham.

Meanwhile, in Manchester, Polytechnic continued their successful season, beating Lancaster 16-7. Chris Brown scored four of their six first quarter goals.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Solihull gang up on Cheltenham danger man Rob Parker.

Men's Championship 1 pacesetters Invicta and City of Sheffield both won their games on day one at the GL1 Centre, Gloucester, today, setting up a winner-takes-all clash between the teams tomorrow for the title.

Led by five-goal Jack Waller and Callum Bailey (4) Invicta, last season's Championship 1 winners, were always comfortably in the lead against City of Bristol and eventually ran out winners by 16-8. It was just as straightforward for Sheffield, whose 14-6 victory over Watford included four goals from Connor Carpenter.

The top three sides will progress to Division 1 at the start of next season. Invicta and Sheffield are already guaranteed their places. Caledonia and Team Northumbria are equal in the third promotion place with a game each to play tomorrow. If both win, Northumbria will go up - by virtue of their 11-10 victory over the Scots at Luton in January!

In men's Championship 2 at Hinckley, Portobello will be champions if they win their final game tomorrow against Croydon.

The end of day one say Portobello, Welsh Wanderers and Penguin level at the top each on 10 points. But Portobello hold the whip hand, having beaten Wanderers and Penguin earlier in the season. And tomorrow sees Wanderers facing Penguin in another crunch game. Consolation for all three sides is that they will progress to Division 2 at the start of next season.

In one of the most exciting men's Championship 3 games of the season, Otter defeated Rotherham Metro 11-9 at Marlborough today to clinch promotion to BWPL's third tier at the start of next season.

Both teams began the match knowing that victory would earn promotion alongside champions Manchester Hawks and Cheltenham Spartans and condemn the losers to a year in Division 4. For much of the time, Rotherham held the lead - 3-1 after the first period, then 6-3 half way through the third.

Otter then hit back, recovering to 8-8 two minutes into the final quarter thanks to goals by Denes Csizsinszky, Pier Spagna, Omiras Pantazis (2) and Orion Ganase. Rotherham went ahead once again at 9-8 with a fourth goal of the game by Richard Leighton. But Otter dominated the final stages, scoring again through Pantazis, Csizsinszky and Ganese. Birmingham's second defeat of the weekend - 18-13 against Bridgefield - ended their hopes of promotion.

In women's Championship 1 at Northampton, Caledonia beat Hucknall 8-4 to clinch second place behind Leeds Sharks.

​Photo (Trevor Hyde): Leeds girls with their trophy. Back row (L-R): Ellie Sowerby, coach Mark Sutcliffe, Tegan Stanbach, Aubrie Monahan. Third row: Emily Sutcliffe, Minnie Gale, Isabel Larder. Second: Emily Pilkington, Emma Little, Kate Teasdale, Evelyn Larder. Front: Joe Duncan, Sophie Jackson. 

The men's Championship 3 clash between Manchester Hawks and Cheltenham Spartans at Marlborough College - a potential title decider -  ended up as a one-sided affair, the Manchester team easing to a 12-4 victory.

A Cheltenham win would almost certainly have turned the tables. But the Hawks were too strong, charging into a 5-0 lead before their opponents registered a goal  and then leading 8-1  after two periods. Jack Wilczyski-Wilkins led the Hawks scoring with six and there four goals from Cameron Richards. With a day to go, Manchester top the table with a 100 per cent record from six games and are guaranteed to finish as champions.

The other promotion places to Division 3 will be up for grabs on the final day tomorrow (11 March). Rotherham Metro boosted their prospects as Richard Leighton bagged seven in a 16-13 defeat of City of Birmingham. Otter stayed in contention after a 14-11 win against Bridgefield.

A first quarter hat-trick by Emily Pilkington set Leeds Sharks on course for a 9-1 victory over Tyldesley at Northampton today - and the women's Championship 1 title.

With a 100 per cent record from six matches, Leeds can't be caught even if they lose their final match tomorrow against Liverpool Liver Birds. The Liverpool girls defeated Penguin Emperors 13-9, including another six-goal haul for leading scorer Molly Boniface-Ashton.

Leeds will be joined in Division 1 next season by Caledonia, whose 12-8 success against English Roses featured five goals by Hannah Edwards, and Hucknall, who go through even though they went down 9-6 to Otter Lutra. Neither Otter nor the Liver Birds can be promoted.

​Photo (Trevor Hyde): Caledonia's Hannah Edwards fires in a back-hander against English Roses.