Northampton completed a highly successful debut season in BWPL by finishing top of men’s Division 5. They recovered from 6-4 down in the third period to defeat York City 9-6 in their final match.

Avondale, another new team in the league, finished runners-up by beating Radcliffe 17-10.

Watford lead women’s Division 3 after completing a hat-trick of wins at their home pool.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Colchester's Ben Chapman on the charge during his team's 15-7 defeat of Chester. The Chester defender is Tom Whieldon.  ​

Watford lead women’s Division 3 after chalking up two big wins - 22-5 against Welsh Wanderers and 18-4 against Southampton.

In men’s Division 5, Avondale’s challenge for top spot suffered a setback in a 16-13 defeat against York City. Nick Boaz scored five for York and bagged another seven as York outplayed Radcliffe 18-5.    

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Watford's Lottie Winstanley (white cap) scored seven in her team's victory over Welsh Wanderers. Here, she battles for possession with Masie Llewelyn. 
 

Welsh Wanderers top men's Division 2 after completing their third win of an excellent weekend of matches at Exeter - 14-9 against City of Bristol. Portobello also remain undefeated, beating Manchester Hawks 11-6 at Bolton, including four goals from Ben Scott.

Rotherham Metro, 11-10 winners against Croydon on day one, beat Castleford 16-13 to make it four victories from four games in Division 3.

In an exciting south coast derby, Southampton edged out Worthing 12-10. Powerful shooting by Dan Shunn and Jacob Graham gave Southampton the edge after the sides were locked at 9-9 towards the end of the third period. 

Exeter were out of luck when the first BWPL matches were staged today at their new home venue, St Sidwell's Point Leisure Centre. They lost two action-packed, high scoring men's Division 2 games - 19-17 to Welsh Wanderers and then 18-6 to West Country derby rivals City of Bristol.

Dan Laxton (Photo: Trevor Hyde) starred for Wanderers in the opening match, scoring eight and taking his tally in three games to 18. Later, the Welsh side ensured top place by winning 11-9 against Sutton & Cheam.

Also undefeated are Portobello, 12-10 winners against Watford at Bolton. In men's Division 3, two late goals by Matt Lawtey clinched Castleford's 11-10 victory over Croydon; Sam Joyce needed four in Hucknall's 11-7 win over Southampton.

Fast-improving Hucknall came within a hair’s breadth of snatching a point from Liverpool Lizards in a dramatic finish to the women’s Division 1 match at East Manchester. Liverpool won 7-6 – but only thanks to a Sophie Gilbert (Photo: Trevor Hyde) goal with just one second of the match remaining!

Liverpool had looked in cruise control as they led 4-1 at the start of the second period, then 6-2.

It was 6-3 at the start of the last – but with Hucknall in no mood to concede defeat. In the space of 20 seconds, Abi Turner and Cynthia Mulder scored to cut the deficit to 6-5. Then, still with four minutes to go, another Turner goal brought the sides level.

Elsewhere, Manchester, Otter and Coventry enjoyed big wins and all three will be targeting Super 5s places when divisional matches end at Coventry on 12/13 November.

Champions City of Manchester defeated Liverpool Lizards in women's Division 1 at East Manchester today, avenging their narrow defeat when the teams met in the Champions Cup final at the end of last season.

The match was tied at 2-2 in the third, but Manchester staged a strong finish, scoring through Rosie Huck (2), Brook Tafazolli, Emma Bartlett (Photo: Trevor Hyde) and Lucy Blenkinship to win 7-2.

Manchester later completed a second win - 13-3 against Hucknall.

At Marlborough College, Danielle Elliot's six goals were not enough to save Coventry from a 14-12 defeat by Otter, for whom Sarah Snyder netted four.

In their second match, Coventry beat Tyldesley 17-8. Earlier, Grace Morley scored six in Tyldesley's 16-13 defeat of Exeter, a game that featured some excellent goalkeeping by Exeter's Nina Rickards.

In women's Division 2, Penguin Emperors edged out Cheltenham 11-10, scoring the winner four seconds from the end, but eased through their second game, an 18-7 victory over Caledonia.

Rotherham Metro remain the only team in the division with a 100 per cent record. After winning 9-6 against Mid Sussex Marlins, including five goals from Ellie Weatherill, they beat City of Bristol 11-9.

Liverpool Liver Birds led  against Cheltenham until, very late on, an Adriana Rodriguez goal put Cheltenham ahead for the first time at 10-9. Just 10 seconds remained when Charlotte Hopwood's fourth goal levelled for Liverpool at 10-10.

In a dramatic conclusion to the second day of the men’s division 1 programme at Sheffield, Polytechnic struck late to pull off a shock 10-9 victory over champions City of Manchester.

Poly trailed for much of the match – they were 8-6 in arrears at the start of the final quarter. Then the London side really got into gear, goals by Liam Neill (2), Kimon Haralambous and Giacomo Cupido earning a 10-8 lead with 1.13 to go. Manchester’s only response was a last-ditch Dan Paddon goal.
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The result left Poly’s great rivals Penguin as the only team to win both matches at Ponds Forge. A great battle is on the cards for Super 5s places in the second half of the season!

Cheltenham's fast start - four goals up without reply in the first period - was to prove vital as they edged out Caledonia 11-9 in men's Division 1 at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, today.

The Cheltenham lead stretched to 10-4 by the early stages of the third quarter, with Joe Berry firing four of the goals. It was only then that the Scots began to mount a challenge, reducing the Cheltenham advantage to 10-6 after three periods and then 10-8.

Matt Witcomb eased the pressure for Cheltenham with a goal 1.47 from the end. Alex Harris replied immediately afterwards - too late for Caledonia to salvage a point. 

Later, Penguin won for the second time - 14-10 against Lancaster. 
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In Division 4, late goals by Matt Williams (2) and Ryan Davis took Watford Saxons to a 10-7 win against Caledonia Storm while a goal just 16 seconds from the end by Marcus Woods clinched a 12-11 victory for Bridgefield over Birmingham. Sedgefield lead the table after beating Newport 21-8.

Photo (Myles Venn): Matt Witcomb shoots for Cheltenham against Caledonia.