Lancaster completed a second win in their home pool - 12-9 against Polytechnic - to end the first day of Division 1 games at Salt Ayre with a two-point lead at the top of a very closely contested men's Division 1.

After the disappointment of defeat against Lancaster, Solihull bounced back with a 12-7 victory against Invicta, including hat-tricks for Matt Madden and Jake Vincent. City of Sheffield trailed Durham Palatinates 8-7 at the end of the third period but goals in the final period by Joel Abbott (2), Finlay Parnell and George Reader secured an 11-9 victory.

The final weekend of men's Division 3 games at Matlock began with four teams - Southampton, Croydon Amphibians, Worthing and Manchester Hawks - showing identical records (four wins and defeat from five games) and with Championship 2 places assured. The only match involving these teams saw Worthing defeat a very young Manchester Hawks outfit 14-8, including five goals for Joe Hazeldine and four for Vytautas Liubertas.

Croydon cruised into a 5-nil lead against Castleford before winning 9-6; Charles Roberts collected another five goals for Southampton, who went from 3-2 down to 6-2 against Cambridge in the third period en route to a 9-4 victory.

Tim Chambers (8) and Omiros Pantazis (6) fired Otter to a 24-6 win against bottom team Cheltenham Spartans.  

Men's Division 1 seems more competitive than ever this season - as demonstrated by early matches today at the Salt Ayre pool, Lancaster.

The Lancaster club began in great style, inflicting the second defeat of the season on reigning champions Solihull - 9-6. Solihull led 3-2 early in the third quarter when Matt Madden scored. But the rest of the period proved decisive as Lancaster rattled in four goals - by Stefano Cossutti, Jacob Darlington, Scott Sharpe (Photo: Trevor Hyde) and Tom Curwen - to open up a 6-3 lead.

It was the final quarter that saw Invicta grab the points with a 10-8 victory over Polytechnic. The London side had edged 7-6 ahead by the end of the third. But a hat-trick by Sean King and another goal from Jack Waller settled it. 

Later, five-goal Dan Paddon led Manchester to a 11-7 win against Cheltenham. Manchester never looked back after building a 5-1 lead by the mid-point of the second period.  

BWPL's offer to organise and run the National Age Group water polo competitions (see Potential New Lead Role for BWPL - News page, 14 May) has stalled.

League chairman David Andrews said today: "George Wood, Swim England's Sport Development Director, welcomed our offer but has turned down the proposal while a full review is conducted. He has, in the meantime, committed Swim England to running the event for the foreseeable future while continuing dialogue with the BWPL.

"BWPL Management Committee remain of the opinion that our proposals represented the basis for a fair agreement that would deliver a vastly improved competition and experience for players, officials and spectators alike.

"We are working on the basis that, should future agreement be made, the earliest date for implementation will be September 2020.

"More immediately, we will be pleased to welcome George to our BWPL weekend in Sheffield on 9/10 February where, in addition to men's and women's Super 5s and women's Championship 1s, the League will be hosting two England international matches."

A penalty 12 seconds from the end, converted for his fourth goal by Dan Laxton (Photo: Trevor Hyde), enabled Welsh Wanderers to draw 13-13 in a men's Division 2 thriller at Watford today.

It meant that Wanderers retained their undefeated record and, with two matches still to play, are guaranteed a deserved step-up to Championship 1 in the second half of the season.

Exeter were 7-3 behind at one stage but briefly led 10-9 in the third before starting the final, tense period at 10-10. Sam Alberici struck early blows for the Devon side to go 12-10 ahead, soon equalised by two goals from Joe Jenkins-Delf. There were just 65 seconds remaining when a Tom Hutchens goal put Exeter ahead again - only for Laxton to have the final word.

Sutton & Cheam are also through to Championship 1, staying unbeaten with a 9-5 victory over Watford. Watford led 7-6 at one point, but a third period hat-trick by Alasdair Wakeling - and a match tally of five goals from Ryan Symington - led to a 9-5 victory.

Portobello made short work of Scottish rivals Caledonia, scoring eight times in the third period on the way to a 17-5 win. Chief goal scorers were Angelos Mongolias (4), Neilson Rutherford (3) and Ben Scott (3). City of Bristol won for the first time - 15-10 against Penguin. The teams were locked at 10-10 with five minutes left, but Bristol produced a strong finish with goals by Elliott Derrick (2), Matt Thresher, Nathan Brown and Tom Whiting.

At Walsall, Sheffield Dolphins beat Invicta Marlins 5-4 to finish top of men's Division 5. Both qualify for Championship 4 along with Watford Saxons, the Army and Leeds, who beat the Saxons 11-5. 

Welsh Wanderers top the men's Division 2 table with a perfect record from four matches after a dramatic day of matches at Watford (3 November).

After beating City of Bristol 13-11, they followed up with a 16-11 victory over Caledonia, building a 10-2 lead before the Scots rallied late on.

It was an even more dramatic day for Wanderers' nearest challengers, Sutton & Cheam. They began by scoring twice in the last three minutes to snatch an 11-11 draw with Caledonia, who were 5-1 up after the first period. In their second match, they defeated Bristol 11-10, scoring the winner 12 seconds from time through Stephen Bayles after Bristol had a player excluded for a brutality offence.

Exeter demolished Watford 23-6 after scoring eight times without reply in the first quarter.

Portobello and Penguin finished all square at 9-9. Ed Grundy's haul of seven goals put Portobello in front for much of the match but the London club recovered from 8-5 down in the last quarter with goals by Lorenzo Cacciola, Andras Kovacs, Joseph Ortiz and Bence Kadar.

The Army, new to the British League this year, made sure of a place in Championship 4 in the second phase of this season with a 7-4 victory over Sheffield Dolphins at Walsall today.

Dolphins, beaten for the first time in Division 5, were never behind in the first three quarters and began the last at 4-4. However, the rest of the game was dominated by the Army, who scored through John Whitaker, Duncan Lowe and Nick Covington.

Leeds also guaranteed progress to Championship 4, but had a close game on their hands before beating Bedford 8-7. Matt Bottomley hit the winner for Leeds 1.36 from the end. 

Later, Chelmsford registered their first win - 13-10 against the Army - but it wasn't sufficient to haul them out of the two bottom places alongside Bedford. These teams drop out of the League in the second phase of the season and will need to qualify for 2019/20 via the qualifying tournament next Spring involving potential newcomers to BWPL.