Invicta revived their hopes of progressing to the men's Super 5s with a superb 8-6 win over Manchester at Luton today.

​Manchester held the upper hand in the early stages, building a 3-1 advantage midway through the second period. But Invicta quickly levelled and, briefly, went 6-5 up in the third. 

​A tense finale was guaranteed when the match stood at 6-6 with five minutes left. It was then that Invicta struck a vital double blow, scoring twice in little over a minute - by GB Olympians Sean King and Jack Waller - to claim both points.

​Cheltenham boosted their Super 5s prospects with a 10-8 defeat of Sheffield, including five goals by Jack Collier. But it's Solihull, now the only undefeated team, who go into the final qualification weekend as top side in the division.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Invicta goalkeeper Ben Alcorn in action at Luton. 

In the best game of the women's Division 3 programme at Marlborough College, City of Bristol beat Mid Sussex Marlins 7-4, ending the Marlins' unbeaten record.

Both goalkeepers - Bristol's Poppy Elliman and Amy Styles, of Marlins - excelled in the closely fought early quarters and it wasn't until the final period that Bristol finally broke clear with goals by Emily Watkins (2) and Heather Tomlinson.

City of Birmingham enjoyed an outstanding weekend, winning all their three matches. In the 8-2 victory over Sunderland, there were two goals each for Jessica Arthur, Claire O'Sullivan and Hannah Hinton.

​Twin whistlers! How's this for a coincidence! In line with BWPL's policy to encourage development of young referees, Academy member Adam Jones officiated at the women's Division 3 weekend at Marlborough. And there was an introduction to BWPL reffing for Cambridge's James Poole. The pair got chatting - and discovered that both had celebrated their 19th birthdays on 9 October!

Undefeated Sheffield maintained their confident drive to a place in the men's Super 5s with a 12-10 victory over Caledonia in Division 1 at Luton today. Sheffield held a lead throughout the match, Joel Abbot contributing five goals and Elliot Kelly three.

The Super 5s is already more or less guaranteed for Solihull who came from behind in the final period to draw 8-8 with Cheltenham. Goals by Mike Thomas, Adam Legge and Jack Collier took Cheltenham from 5-5 to 8-5 in the third period before Solihull rallied. Peter Farkas's man-up strike brought the Midlanders up to 8-7 with five minutes to go. But it wasn't until 46 seconds from the end that Farkas produced an equaliser.

Lancaster edged out Polytechnic 9-8 after the London side had led 3-1 early on. There were hat-tricks for Lancaster's Tom Curwen and Glen Robinson.

Champions Cheltenham picked up their first points of the men's Division 1 campaign at Luton today - but they were made to battle all the way by spirited Invicta.

Cheltenham increased an early 5-3 lead to 10-5 after two periods and were 13-9 up at the end of the third. Then Invicta gave them a mighty scare, pulling up to 13-12 with goals by Sean King (2) and Fred Pearson before Adam Legge's third goal of the match - from a man-up - gave Cheltenham a 14-12 win with just over a minute remaining.

Lancaster also picked up their first points, Graham Harrington netting three as they raced into a 5-1 lead against Caledonia in the first period. The Scots fought back well after that but Lancaster held out comfortably enough in the end at 10-7.

Polytechnic continued their excellent start to the season with an 11-11 draw against Solihull. It could have been even better because the London side led 9-6 and then 11-9 before Jordan Elliot's fourth goal and another by Peter Farkas salvaged a point for Solihull.

Sheffield completed a remarkable fightback to draw 8-8 with Manchester. With an 8-5 lead at the start of the final period, Manchester appeared to be coasting to victory. But Chris Armstrong equalised and, in a dramatic final minute, 17-year-old Connor Carpenter scored (37 seconds remaining) and then, with 15 seconds to go, a second man-up chance allowed Alex Gaywood to equalise.

Solihull beat Caledonia to finish day one at Luton in top spot.

Mid Sussex Marlins retained their unbeaten record in women's Division 3 at Marlborough College today, outplaying Cheltenham 18-1. Isobel Bates led the scoring with seven. Later, Marlins won again - 22-6 against Sheffield Stingrays.

It was easy too for City of Bristol, who defeated Sunderland 16-4, including five goals from Heather Tomlinson.

Liverpool Water Beatles beat Leeds 6-4, scoring five times without reply in the third period through Jennifer Quirk, Katie Bowater, Hannah Gilbert, Evie Jones and Erin Donagh.

Team Northumbria will head into the final weekend of men's Division 2 action with their unbeaten record intact thanks to drawing 12-12 with Welsh Wanderers in a thoroughly entertaining clash at Haberdashers.

​Competition is so tight in this division however that, even as divisional pacesetters, Northumbria still need one point from two matches to guarantee a slot in Championship 2 in the New Year.

​They were 9-5 ahead in the second period against the Wanderers and 11-9 at the end of the third. Then the Welsh counterattacked, briefly taking a 12-11 lead with goals by Joe Jenkins-Delf, Charlie Hinder and Dan Laxton. Ex-GB skipper Neil Bowers levelled from a man-up chance with three minutes left.

​City of Bristol beat Penguin 10-8, conceding only one goal during the four minutes they played a man down following a brutality offence.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Team Northumbria's Josh Brown gets that sinking feeling under pressure from Dan Laxton, of Welsh Wanderers.

Caledonia Storm smashed Leeds' unbeaten record in men's Division 5 at Marlborough College today, racing into an 8-1 half-time lead on the way to a 12-5 victory. 

​The Scottish club's youngsters shone once again - Finlay Nesbitt, 17, added a hat-trick to his five-goal haul the previous day; and there were two for 15-year-old Harry Gray.

​There was no shortage of drama as Watford Saxons and Sheffield Dolphins shared the points with a 7-7 draw. Watford began the final period with a 6-2 lead, cut back to 7-5 until, 52 seconds from the end, Connor Charles scored for Sheffield from a man-up. 

​Watford now came under tremendous pressure, suffering an exclusion with 12 seconds to go - and another with just one second remaining on the clock. That was good enough for Dolphins, Tom Kelly netting the equaliser as the final hooter sounded.

​Warwick scored the only goal of the last period to snatch a 6-6 draw with Bedford.

City of Bristol turned the tables on Sutton & Cheam in the last period of the Division 2 clash at Haberdashers after the London side, who had been leading 9-7, lost a player to a brutality offence.

Craig Figes, GB captain at the 2012 Olympics, converted the resulting penalty. And, within the space of three minutes, further goals by Figes, Nathan Brown and Carl Wyatt clinched an 11-9 win. 

​It was Exeter's strong finish that earned an 11-8 victory over Penguin - the London club's first defeat. The match was level at 8-8 with 3.47 to go. Then goals by Sam Alberici (2) and Christian Pulido took Exeter home. 

​Watford beat Welsh Wanderers 8-6, but only after Wanderers had recovered from 5-1 to equalise at 6-6 at the start of the last period with a man-up conversion by Dan Laxton. Almost immediately, Igor Cuomo edged Watford ahead from another man-up chance. The game remained in the balance until the very last second, when James Warman add another Watford goal. Later, Laxton scored five as Wandreres beat Croydon 14-10.

​Undefeated Team Northumbria were comfortable winners by 13-7 against Croydon, including four goals from David Maes and a Matt Calvert hat-trick.

City of Leeds retained the only 100 per cent record in men's Division 5 with a comfortable 14-4 victory over Bedford at Marlborough College today. Khaled Ibraham led their scoring with four.

​There was double success for Sheffield Dolphins. They beat Chelmsford 7-2 and then edged out Coventry 9-7, with Tom Kelly notching hat-tricks in both games.

​Hugh Dyason's third goal earned Watford Saxons a 7-6 win against Coventry. And 17-year-old Finlay Nesbitt was on target five times as Caledonia Storm hammered Warwick 17-5.

​Members of the new British League referees' academy are already gaining valuable additional experience - Claire Walmsley and Matt Graves are off to Malta on Wednesday to accompany English Schools' under-17 boys' and girls' teams during a week's training camp on the island, followed by a three-day international tournament.

​Claire, who plays for Coventry in women's Division 1, and Matt, of men's Division 4 club York City, will referee a number of matches and receive mentoring from international referees Peter Balzan (Malta) and Anna Goncharenko (Ukraine and Malta), who have both officiated in BWPL Super 5s in recent seasons.