Sheffield completed a perfect start to the first weekend of men's Championship 1 action at Lancaster, winning for the third time - 14-7 against Invicta.

​Invicta led 3-2 after the first period but the attacking duo of Chris Armstrong and Joel Abbott once again led the Sheffield response, scoring five and four goals respectively.

​Hat-tricks by Tobias Hook and Stephen Bayles set up Sutton & Cheam's 13-10 victory over Exeter. Sutton were always ahead after building a 5-2 first quarter advantage, although Nicholas Hoversten scored five for the Devon side, including four in the second period.

​It turned out to be an outstanding day for London clubs. Polytechnic beat Team Northumbria 11-8, scoring vital goals in the last two and a half minutes through Chris Icely and Jorge Garijo after Northumbria recovered from 7-2 down to trail 9-8.

​Penguin also had to withstand a late rally from opponents Bristol before winning the final game 13-11. Bristol, trailing for much of the match, narrowed Penguin's lead to 11-10 in the last quarter before two goals in the space of 30 seconds by Dragos Ungureanu made sure of the points.

​Picture (Trevor Hyde): Joel Abbott (white cap) in action for Sheffield.

Team Northumbria held off a late rally by Bristol Central at Lancaster today to clinch a 12-9 win in men's Championship 1 - the only success for a Division 2 qualifier against one of the three demoted Division 1 clubs.

​Bristol trailed all the way through, Northumbria winning a key second period 5-2. The Northumbria lead was cut to 9-8 at the end of the third period but a hat-trick in the final quarter by Sam Smith secured the points.

​Earlier, Joel Abbott's six goals led Sheffield to a second win of the day - 11-8 against Exeter. Polytechnic led 3-2 towards the end of the second period against Invicta but were then outplayed. Invicta ran out winners by 11-3, including four goals for Callum Bailey and three from Pat Baker.

​Sutton & Cheam came from 6-5 down to beat Penguin 10-8 in the London derby thanks to two goals each in the final period from Stephen Bayles and Alasdair Wakeling.

​Picture (Trevor Hyde): GB Olympic goalkeeper Matt Holland, back with his home club Sutton & Cheam this season after playing abroad professionally.

Two of the teams that missed out on Super 5s places began the men's Championship 1 campaign with victories at Salt Ayre pool, Lancaster, today.

​Sheffield beat Team Northumbria 11-7, breaking clear in the second half of the third period when goals by Chris Armstrong, Joel Abbott, Liam Humphries and Alex Gaywood took the score from 6-6 to 10-6. Armstrong topped the scoring with five.

​Bristol also rallied late on to defeat Sutton & Cheam 15-11. The sides were level at 9-9 after three quarters but then Bristol opened up a crucial three-goal advantage through Giorgi Razmadze, Chris Taylor and Stuart Fennell. Taylor finished with five, as did Sutton's Ryan Symington.

Fixtures for the second half of the season are now complete - see fixtures pages!

​The second phase actually gets under way this weekend, with matches in men's Championship 1 at the Lancaster University pool.

​The programme then moves into the New Year and includes a first visit to the new Haberdashers' Aske's School pool - for fixtures in Women's Championship 1 and Men's Championship 2 and 3 - on 11/12 February. 

Then, don't forget to make a special note of 18/19 March in your diaries - for the spectacular Super 5s finale which this year takes place at the GL1 Pool, Gloucester.

Otter and York City completed the wins they needed at Grantham to ensure progress from men's Division 4 to Championship 3 in the second phase of the season.

Unbeaten Portobello were already secure. The other places went to Bridgefield and Cheltenham Spartans.

Otter beat Bedford 13-7, including four goals each for Nikolas Rousos and Daniel Shunn, while York defeated Cheltenham 14-7 to complete a hat-trick of wins during the weekend.  Portobello's 19-10 defeat of Bridgefield featured seven goals by Hadrien Collineau.

Invicta Marlins went into their final match against Grantham Kings knowing they could draw level on points with Cheltenham and Bridgefield. Invicta beat Grantham 11-8 but lost out because they had the least number of points in matches involving those three teams.

​Picture (Trevor Hyde): Clayton Woods, of Portobello.

Sunderland's belated revival - two wins in the final women's Division 3 weekend at Northampton - came too late to save them from the bottom three places, which means missing out on the second phase of the season.

After beating Polytechnic 9-7 on day one, they edged out Sheffield Stingrays 11-10. Sunderland recovered from 10-8 down to grab a narrow lead in the third period thanks to goals by Ashley Boardman, Jessica Millar and Samantha Crawford. Eight of the Sheffield goals were scored by Emily Weatherill.

The final period produced four exclusions, three time-outs and a Sunderland missed penalty - but no more goals.

Liverpool Water Beatles, Leeds Hammerheads, English Roses, Birmingham and Southampton progress to Championship 2, with Polytechnic, Sheffield Stingrays and Sunderland left with the option of entering the end-of-season qualification tournament for 2017/18.

Championship 3 places were up for grabs in the keenly-contested men's Division 4 at Grantham today, where Portobello confirmed their promotion by defeating Grantham 14-5. The Scots took charge after the match was all square at 4-4 early in the second period.

Bridgefield kept their hopes alive, beating Cheltenham Spartans 11-7 despite losing one of their top players, Roger Kennedy, to a misconduct offence early on. Main scorers were Dennis Bormann (3), Andrew Faulkner (2), Lee Cadwallader (2) and Paul Williams (2).

Five teams go into the final day with hopes of filling four places behind Portobello in Championship 3. Otter, Bridgefield, York and Cheltenham Spartans all have seven points, with Invicta still in contention on five points.

Molly Boniface-Ashton, who celebrated her 15th birthday this week, marked the occasion in the grand manner with a nine-goal haul in Liverpool Water Beatles' 12-11 victory over top-of-the-table women's Division 3 rivals Leeds Hammerheads at Northampton.

Leeds almost rescued a point in the final stages, recovering from 12-7 down at the start of the last period. But both teams were already guaranteed places in Championship 2 in the second half of the season.

English Roses also qualified thanks to a key 11-5 success against Birmingham, featuring six goals by Andrea Norris and three from Lou Betts.

Southampton revived their hopes as seven goals by Aimee Park ensured a 12-9 defeat of Sheffield Stingrays. At the bottom of the table, Sunderland collected a rare win - 9-7 against Polytechnic. The sides were level at 7-7 in the last quarter before goals by Ashley Boardman and Tamara Kaiser gave Sunderland the points.

​Picture (Trevor Hyde): Molly Boniface-Ashton attempts another shot at Northampton.