Invicta, led by four-goal Jack Waller, inflicted the first defeat of the Super 5s campaign on champions City of Manchester at Lancaster today - by the resounding margin of 11-5. The triumph repeated their success of the first phase of the season, when they were the only team to take both points against Manchester.

The match was close early on - Manchester led 3-2. But Invicta took charge in the second period, scoring three times without reply through Scott Martin, Ben Tinkler-Davies and Callum Bailey and excelling in defence - with goalkeeper Ben Alcorn making several fine saves. It was 7-4 to Invicta after three periods; then goals by Waller (2), Shaun King - both members of GB's 2012 Olympic squad - and Martin took them clear to a superb victory.

In the last match of the day, Lancaster pulled off a thrilling first victory - 8-7 against Solihull. To the delight of the home crowd, Lancaster recovered from 6-2 down to claim a winner by Tom Curwen seconds from the end. Lancaster owed much in the early stages to the defensive heroics of goalkeeper Marc Robinson while Graham Harrington scored twice with powerful long shots.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Manchester's Joe O'Regan faces determined defence from goalkeeper Ben Alcorn and the Invicta defence.

Champions Otter crashed out of this season's women's Super 5s title race when they went down 7-4 to City of Manchester at Lancaster today.

Only Coventry can now overhaul Manchester. The Midlanders beat Caledonia 18-7 to set up a winner-takes-all title decider between the sides tomorrow. Coventry must win - a draw or victory will give Manchester the trophy.

Inevitably, the Manchester-Otter clash was a tight affair, Manchester leading 2-1, 5-2 and then 6-2 as the game moved into the final period. Briefly, Otter threatened, scoring through Peggy Etiebet and Robyn Greenslade. Then their defence left too much space for Annie Clapperton, who swooped for her third, decisive goal of the game. 

Photo (Trevor Hyde): All-out defence from Manchester.

Cheltenham have rebuilt their side around a talented group of youngsters since their last British League title win two years ago - and a couple of them excelled in today's 10-4 Super 5s victory over Lancaster at Salt Ayre.

Charlie Brogan, just 17 in January, scored twice. And there was a hat-trick for one of the division's top scorers this season - Tom Hunt (below), who was 18 earlier this month. Will Rayson (above), a comparative veteran of 22, also scored three. 

As usual, Tom Curwen provided the main attacking threat for Lancaster, scoring three of his team's four goals.

Photos: Trevor Hyde

Off we go! The finale to the Super 5s season got under way at Salt Ayre, Lancaster, today - with the BBC cameras ready to broadcast the action live to the water polo world via the red button, the BBC Sport App and online.

The first match saw Liverpool Lizards defeat Caledonia in the women's event 13-5. The Scots took an early two-goal lead through Niamh Moloney and Alison Tait. But once Katie Hesketh levelled for a Liverpool with a finely-judged lob from distance, there was no stopping the Lizards. They scored four times in the second period - through Molly Boniface-Ashton (2), Katie Hesketh and Millie Wordley - and controlled the match from then on.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Molly Boniface-Ashton fires one of her goals for Liverpool today. 

Old London rivals Polytechnic and Sutton & Cheam will join men’s Championship 1 winners City of Sheffield in Division 1 at the start of next season after securing vital victories at Haberdashers today.

Poly, led by six-goal Chris Brown, inflicted the only defeat of the campaign on Sheffield  - 13-10.

It was a nerve-racking affair for Sutton & Cheam, who knew that the winners of their match against Durham Palatinates would clinch promotion, but leave the losers destined for a season in Division 2. Sutton led 4-1 early but the game progressed to 5-5 in the second quarter, then 7-7 and 8-8 in the third before Sutton won 9-8 with the only goal of the final period – a penalty converted by Stephen Bayles.
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Like Durham, Caledonia also missed out, despite beating Exeter 19-6, including five goals each for Chris Campbell and Maksim Makarov. Ed Grundy contributed six for Portobello in their 19-9 win against Welsh Wanderers.

Photos (Trevor Hyde) - above, Sutton's ex-GB goalkeeper Matt Holland and Toby Hook keep out a shot by Durham's Akos Sahin-Toth. Below: Sheffield's victorious team, front (L-R), Liam Humphreys, Chris Armstrong, Ben Stephenson, Joel Abbott, Connor Carpenter, Drew Winstanley, Finlay Parnell. Back: Paul Reader (coach), Alex Gaywood, Elliot Kelly, Josh Smith, Ben Greenhill, George Reader. 

City of Sheffield finished top of men's Championship 1 for a second year when they hammered Exeter 20-8 at Haberdashers - and then watched as nearest rivals Polytechnic crashed to an 11-8 defeat against Caledonia.

While Sheffield can relax on the final day tomorrow (Sunday) - they play Poly - the main interest will concern the two teams that qualify to join them in Division 1 next season. Currently, four are in contention, including Caledonia, who enjoyed a dominant period against Poly when they charged from 5-4 up to lead 10-6. There were two goals apiece for Logan Shepherd, Finlay Nesbitt and Chris Campbell.

Zach White collected his usual haul of goals - seven on this occasion - as Durham Palatinates beat Portobello 15-7. Ryan Symington scored five in Sutton & Cheam's 15-4 defeat of Welsh Wanderers.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Dominique Zahra scores for Polytechnic against Caledonia at Haberdashers today.

Castleford and City of Birmingham will clash tomorrow (17 March) at Marlborough to decide the winners of men's Championship 3. 

Six goals from Matt Lawtey ensured Castleford's 12-9 victory over Tyldesley, although Tyldesley missed a hatful of chances to make the game much closer. Castleford go into the finale with a one-point advantage over Birmingham, who beat Rotherham Metro 12-10, including six goals from Nathan Wilkes. A feature of the game was the excellence of two young goalkeepers - Simon Halstead, of Birmingham, and Robert Kucharski.

Cambridge defeated Bridgefield 13-10 to claim their first points. There were hat-tricks for Ben Walker and Gellert Peresztegi-Nagy.

Best game of the day saw Cheltenham Spartans edged through 11-10 against York City to join Castleford and Birmingham as the promoted teams. A York victory would have put them up instead of Cheltenham and they almost did it, recovering from 9-5 down at the start of the last period to 10-10 - only for Simon Almond to notch a man-up winner for Spartans with 1.34 remaining.

The meeting of the top two teams to decide the women's Championship 1 winners produced a comfortable 12-6 victory for Hucknall over Sheffield Sharks at Liverpool.

After an even start, Hucknall steadily took control, India Wilkinson leading the way with four goals. Other scorers were Katelyn Fairchild (2), Anna Lord (2), Marta Gasso, Cara Saunders, Charlene Piquard and Eda Colliver. Larissa Partridge was outstanding for Sheffield, scoring all their goals.

The other matches during the final session all ended in single-goal victories. Mid Sussex Marlins won for the first time, 14-13 against Tyldesley, scoring vital goals late on by Lauren Hand (2), Isobel Bates and Eve Tidy. 

Liverpool Liver Birds beat City of Bristol 7-6 thanks to Katie Bowater's fifth goal just seconds from the end. City of Birmingham ended their campaign in style, beating Leeds Sharks 7-6, including four goals from Sancha Tonks. Hucknall, Sheffield and Leeds start next season in Division 1.

Photos (Trevor Hyde). Above: All smiles from new champions Hucknall at Liverpool. Front, L-R: Mia Lovell, Eda Colliver, Giorgia Bosworth, Naya Patel, Anna Loyd. Second row: Katelyn Fairchild, Cara Saunders, Helen Reader, Marta Gasso, India Wilkinson, Carlene Piquard. Back: Tim Dunsbee (coach), Mary-Clare Endy.  

Below: Eyes on the ball . . . Hucknall goalkeeper Naya Patel and defender Helen Reader take on Sheffield's Tara Smith.

Watford beat City of Bristol 13-10 at Grantham today to take the men’s Championship 2 crown - but only by the narrowest of margins.

With Worthing winning their final match earlier on - 7-6 against Penguin – it meant that Watford, Bristol and Worthing all ended on 12 points. Finding the champions then involved creating a mini-table of matches between the top three – they all won one and lost one. So it was all down to goal difference in those games – which worked out at plus 2 for Watford, evens for Bristol and minus 2 for Worthing!

All three, of course, will start next season in what should be a particularly strong Division 2.
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Bristol led 4-3 early on against Watford, but once Watford edged ahead at 5-4 at the start of the second quarter, they never looked back. Nandor Czeh was their star performer, scoring seven times.

Worthing and Penguin were level at 5-5 before Worthing gained the edge in the last period with goals by George Wood and Sam Cooper. Albie Duffy replied late on for Penguin.

Picture: Celebrations today for Watford at Grantham. Front, L-R: Ramon Fernandez, Steve Chambers (team manager), Adam Page, Cameron Baker, Jared Baker, Steve Behr. Back: Jack Warman, Will Eggleton, Nandor Cseh, Peter Pickford, David Koncz. Absent: Edi Brkovic (Head Coach), Jack Pickford and Petar Djordjic