City of Manchester made sure of their eighth women’s BWPL Super 5s title by beating Cheltenham 18-7 at Coventry today. The win maintained the team’s 100 per cent record this season and means they cannot be overhauled when the finale weekend takes place at East Manchester on 22/23 March.

Manchester are also pursuing the double, their men surviving a scare against Cheltenham today to retain top spot.

Cheltenham led 8-5 when Louie McKie scored towards the end of the third period. Manchester responded through Joe O’Regan, Rory Inman and Ben Grech but it was not until 1.36 from the end that Guive Shafie (Photo: Trevor Hyde), a former Cheltenham player, claimed a Manchester winner at 9-8.

One more victory at East Manchester should mean that Manchester are crowned champions once again.

In the other men’s game, Polytechnic outplayed Welsh Wanderers 16-6, including hat-tricks for Calum de Jager and Caleb Simpson.
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Anna Miller and Anna Motley both scored five as Sheffield Sharks beat Hucknall 12-8, avenging defeat when the clubs met in the Super 5s earlier in the season. 

Penguin today confirmed their reputation as the men’s Super 5s penalty shoot-out kings!

In 11 men’s Super 5s clashes so far this season, five have needed the dreaded shoot-out to produce a result. Penguin have featured THREE times – the latest a nail-biting 12-10 victory over Polytechnic at Coventry today after the sides ended normal time deadlocked at 7-7.

Penguin’s success avenged defeat by their London rivals at the start of the season when Poly won 12-10 after a shoot-out. Penguin later enjoyed a first shoot-out victory, edging out Cheltenham 19-18.

Surely, it couldn’t happen today for a third time? This looked unlikely as Poly reached the end of the third period with a 7-4 lead, but Penguin had different ideas. In the first minute of the fourth, Tilemachos Pissas led a storming fightback by twice converting penalties, cutting the Poly lead to 7-6.

A rash of time-outs, plus an exclusion for both sides, produced no more goals until 27 seconds from the end. That’s when Dennis van der Linde equalised from a man-up chance.

And so it went to penalties . . . . to 10-10 . . . 11-10 to Penguin . . . a Poly miss . . . then a winner fired in by Robert Gourley (Photo: Trevor Hyde). 

There was still time for yet another penalty shoot-out as Welsh Wanderers, boosted by seven-goal Joe Jenkins-Delf, beat Cheltenham 19-18 (15-15 at full-time). Cheltenham had edged a shoot-out when the sides met for the first time earlier in the season. 

At the end of such an eventful day, Manchester beat Penguin 12-8 to claim top spot in the table. Manchester led 6-1 after the first period, including a hat-trick by Joe O'Regan. 

Cheltenham marked their debut season in the women’s Super 5s with a stunning 13-10 victory over Liverpool Lizards at Coventry today.

The start of the third quarter saw Liverpool edge into a 6-4 lead with a Katie Brown goal. But the match had been turned on its head by the end of that period as goals by Vicki Hawkins (2) - Photo: Trevor Hyde - Derin Pehlivanoglu (2), Sofia Chaves and Freya Webster built a 10-7 Cheltenham lead – soon improved to 12-8 in the last as Vicki Hawkins and Sofia Chaves scored further goals.
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Cheltenham women’s did not enter BWPL for the first time until the 2017-18 season, steadily working their way up the league ladder and finishing fourth behind City of Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield Sharks in Division 1 this season. 

Champions City of Manchester beat Hucknall 18-4, including five goals by Mhairi Nurthen, to maintain their 100 per cent record at the top of the table. Liverpool lost again later on - 16-12 to Sheffield Sharks, who went clear in the final period with goals by Anna Motley (3), Sancha Tonks and Anna Miller.