Charlie Brogan had a fair excuse for not attending British Swimming's Athlete of the Year awards at the weekend - he was busy helping Cheltenham bag five points from three matches in men's Division 1 at Haberdashers.

The burly 17-year-old earned the male award, while the female winner was 19-year-old Lily Turner (Photo: Trevor Hyde), the Otter player currently based at the University of California.

Also absent from the awards was the Coach of the Year - Solihull's Phil Powell, currently touring the world on a well-earned sabbatical. Phil led Solihull to the British League title in 2017 and has also coached the England and GB under-17 teams. 

Invicta pushed champions City of Manchester all the way in men's Division 1 at Haberdashers before suffering a 9-6 defeat - a result that means they are struggling to make the Super 5s for another year.

Polytechnic, beaten 10-7 by Lancaster in another key qualification game, are now definitely heading for Championship 1. Sutton & Cheam, despite a battling 9-9 draw with Sheffield, may well join them. For Invicta, the situation is clear - they need points from clashes with Cheltenham and Poly on the final weekend to have any chance of upsetting the odds.

The day produced another series of exciting matches. Sutton were 9-6 down against Sheffield before grabbing a point at 9-9 thanks to a speculative backhander from Ryan Symington, a Chris Evans goal, then a man-up equaliser from Ali Wakeling with 1.39 remaining.

Lancaster's Super 5s prospects depended to a significant extent on their fixture with Poly, which they won 10-7. Tom Curwen's six goals made the difference.

Invicta stormed into a 4-1 lead against Manchester, who then fought back to 4-4 at the end of the second, then 7-6 after three. Dan Paddon (Photo: Trevor Hyde) and Andrea de Caro claimed the late goals that ensured the points for the champions

A superb weekend of high quality games ended with Cheltenham and Solihull drawing 10-10. Cheltenham edged 10-9 ahead in the last quarter thanks to two super goals - one a lob, then a sharp, angled shot from distance - from Alejandro Sanchez before Pawel Wielogoiski levelled from a man-up.

In men's 4 at Matlock, Hucknall beat York City 12-10 to complete an outstanding first half of the season with a 100 per cent record.

With Super 5s places up for grabs, men's Division 1 produced a series of cliffhanger games at Haberdashers' School today. The drama developed like this:

56 seconds from the end of Invicta v Sutton & Cheam, Nick Jackson's backhander grabbed a point for Invicta in a 9-9 draw. Invicta trailed 4-1 early on but they gradually fought back to take the lead for the first time at 8-7 midway through the last period. Stephen Bayles' seventh goal, plus another from Chris Evans, edged Sutton 9-8 ahead before the Jackson strike.

54 seconds from the final whistle, Cheltenham defeated Sheffield 11-10 with a winner from Alejandro Sanchez - his sixth of a thrilling match. The game went from 1-1 to 2-2, to 3-3 . . . and all the way through goal by goal to 10-10. It was that close! Joel Abbott's goals - he finished with six - had kept Sheffield afloat earlier in the game.

57 seconds remained when Sean King's (Photo: Trevor Hyde) goal gave Invicta, in their second game of the day, a 9-8 victory over Lancaster. Key period of the game came when, in space of less than two minutes, Invicta hit back from 5-2 to 5-5 - and would have gone to 6-5 but for a penalty save by Lancaster keeper Marc Robinson. John Pratt scored a couple of superb solo goals for Lancaster late on, but Invicta claimed the points. 

Cheltenham and Polytechnic were locked at 10-10 at the start of the final period, then goals by Will Middleton (2) and Joe Berry swept Cheltenham to a 13-10 win.

Earlier in the day, champions Manchester beat Polytechnic 10-8, building a commanding 9-5 lead by the start of the final period. Solihull defeated Sutton 12-6.

Tom Endy's fifth goal just 32 seconds from the end gave Hucknall a thrilling 15-14 victory over Tyldesley in men's Division 4 at Matlock today. The win gave Hucknall maximum points from six matches.

Jacob Graham starred for Bridgefield, scoring six in a 13-8 defeat of the British Army. Bridgefield followed up with a 21-11 win against Cambridge, guaranteeing their move up to Championship 3 alongside Hucknall, Rotherham Metro, York and Tyldesley. The Army, Cambridge and Coventry drop to Championship 4.

Is your club planning to apply for membership of the British League in the 2020/21 season? This is a reminder that the deadline for applications is not too far away - 31 December (see League Rule 4.3.1).
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We now have provisional dates and venues for the women’s and men’s qualification tournaments.  Women – 28/29 March 2020, Northampton School for Boys. Men – 4/5 April, Walsall Gala Baths.

On a dramatic final day of men’s Division 5 matches at Walsall, Invicta Marlins – by the narrowest of margins – ended up as one of the three teams to miss out on Championship 4 places in the New Year.

It all came down to the very last game involving Newport and Leeds. Marlins needed Leeds to win as it would have left Marlins and Newport level on seven points in fifth and sixth places – but with Marlins taking precedence on the basis of a single-goal victory when those teams met earlier in the season!

In the event, Newport saved their bacon by beating Leeds. But it was only by 10-9 and courtesy of a winning goal from Isaac Bowen just a minute from the end. In the later stages, Leeds had raised Invicta’s hopes by fighting back from 7-4 down to level at 9-9.

So it’s Invicta, Chelmsford and Watford Saxons who will drop out in the second half of the season, with the option of applying for readmission in 2020/21 via the qualification tournament.

Invicta Marlins were well beaten in their final game – 14-7 by Sheffield Dolphins, who join Caledonia Storm, Newport, Chester and Leeds in Championship 4.

Durham Palatinates are on the verge of dropping to Championship 2 after losing 15-8 to Exeter in men's Division 2 at Aldershot today.

Definitely slipping down - not helped by a deduction of points for including an unregistered player in two games - are City of Bristol, who enjoyed a much more successful weekend.

As a follow-up to Saturday's 16-10 defeat of Durham, they drew 11-11 with Welsh Wanderers, victory eluding them when they missed chances of a last-ditch winner from a man-up, then a penalty.

Scotland's two representatives both won their day two games - Caledonia maintained a 100 per cent record, scoring five in the final quarter to beat Watford 10-6; hat-tricks by Ed Grundy and Ben Scott featured in Portobello's 13-7 success against Worthing. Caledonia face Portobello in the very last game of the Division 2 season - at Tollcross, Glasgow, on 24 November.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Worthing's Joano Martins fires in a shot against Portobello at Aldershot today.

It's still nail-bitingly tight in men's Division 5 as the teams brace themselves for the final day of games at Walsall tomorrow.

The top five know they will head for Championship 4 in the New Year. The remaining three will fall through the trap door that means no participation in the second half of the season and the prospect of requalifying for 2020/21 through the play-off tournament.

Caledonia Storm enjoyed a great day, leaping from 7th at the start to first place thanks to wins over Chester (8-6) and Leeds (8-7). The Scots have eight points, followed by Chester, Invicta Marlins, Leeds, Newport and Sheffield Dolphins all on seven. Chelmsford aren't out of it altogether but will need to beat Chester in their final game tomorrow and hope other results work in their favour.

Men's Division 2 still has a full weekend of games to anticipate, but Exeter boosted their prospects of qualifying for Championship 1 by beating Portobello 15-14 at Aldershot. They never trailed the Scots but had to rely on late goals from Sam Alberici to ensure victory after Portobello levelled at 12-12. Jack Cutting (pictured today by Trevor Hyde) scored five for Exeter.  

Andy Holt's two man-up goals in the final quarter earned Watford a 6-4 victory over Worthing.

Joe Hazeldine's five goals were sufficient to earn Worthing a 12-11 victory over Durham Palatinates in men's Division 2 at Aldershot today - but Durham almost turned the tables in a frantic final quarter.

After three periods, Worthing were comfortably placed with an 10-6 lead. But Durham's Travis Bouscaren took charge in the last, scoring four of his seven goals and almost stealing a point at the death.

City of Bristol, already destined for Championship 2 due to points deductions, were hammered 15-6 by Watford, whose chief scorers were Zach White (4) and Josh Brown (3). Caledonia's 16-8 defeat of Welsh Wanderers featured six goals by Finlay Nesbitt and five from Dominque Zahra.

Photos (Trevor Hyde): Action today from Aldershot. Above, Akos Sahin-Toth, of Watford. Below, Caledonia's Chris Campbell (right) tangles with Dan Laxton, of Welsh Wanderers.