Sheffield Dolphins and City of Newport are the early pacesetters in men’s Championship 4, both teams taking five points from three matches during the first weekend of the campaign at Haberdasher’s Aske’s School.  The teams had drawn a thriller on day one, 15-year-old Corran Bradley scoring the goal just six seconds from the end that brought Dolphins to 12-12.

​Arshia Keyghobadi (Photo: Trevor Hyde) led the way for Dolphins in their third match – he scored nine in a 12-8 defeat of the British Army. Newport trailed 8-5 to Chester at the end of the second period but five goals without reply in the third – by James Farror (2), Luke Turner (2) and Chris Taylor – ensured a 13-10 win.

Leeds went 7-0 up midway through the second period on the way to beating Cambridge 12-9. Emanuele Bontampi and Scott Modra both notched hat-tricks for the winners.

Rotherham Metro were the only team to complete the first weekend of matches in women's Championship 2 at Walsall with two victories. Emily Crossley's five goals ensured a 13-6 victory over English Roses; then Emma Jackson netted four in a 17-8 defeat of Otter Lutra.

Fifteen-year-old Charlotte Martin, of Cheltenham, found herself very much the centre of attention as Cheltenham came from behind to defeat Otter Lutra 6-5..
Early in the final period, the London side edged into a 5-4 lead thanks to a goal by Lindsey Williams. Almost immediately, Martin equalised, but then conceded a penalty – which Otter missed. The Cheltenham winner came with more than four minutes still to play – thanks, once again, to Martin.
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Cheltenham trailed 6-1 after the first period against English Roses but recovered to draw 11-11. Former GB goalkeeper Jenny Braddock (photo, Trevor Hyde) scored five for Roses.

Newport began the men’s Championship 4 programme at Haberdashers’ Aske’s School today in positive fashion, defeating Coventry 16-9. They relied very much on the goal power of two of their most experienced players – Chris Taylor, who scored six, and James Farror (4).
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Matt Elliott bagged six for Coventry, but Newport were always in charge after building a 7-3 lead in the second period.

Sheffield Dolphins beat Leeds 15-7 in the Yorkshire derby, including goals by Miles Ralston (4), Arshia Keyghobadi (3), Corran Bradley (2), Connor Charles (2) and Ethan Carpenter (2).

Chester scored first against the British Army but ended the second quarter 7-1 in arrears. The Army eventually won 13-9.

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Newport goalie Alex James saves a penalty against Coventry today.
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The death has occurred of Brian Campbell (pictured), a major figure in Scottish water polo for many years and the father of three Caledonia players, Alasdair and twins Chris and Darren. Brian’s brother Doug won many honours during his seasons playing for the Lancaster club.
 
The funeral takes place on Thursday, 19 December at the Carnegie Conference Centre, Halbeath Road, Dunfermline, KY118DY, 10.30am for a 10.45am start. The family requests family flowers only but there will be a collection in memory of Brian on the day.

Brian had suffered with cancer for the past couple of years but, as statement on Dunfermline Water Polo Club website (https://www.dunfermline-wpc.co.uk/) says, “he had been trying to live life as normal as possible, continuing to work and maintain his passion for developing and delivering water polo opportunities for junior players.

"As a player, then coach, team manager and administrator, Brian has touched every part of water polo since first taking up the sport as a young swimmer. An enormous number of players will have been influenced by Brian who has been a significant part of Dunfermline WPC, Scotland boys and latterly Caledonia Boys. His drive, passion and commitment will be sorely missed.”
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All teams take a well-earned break after an action-packed first half of the season. Then it will be all systems go for phase two!

Fixtures are published today and feature men's and women's Super 5s sharing the same four venues - Aldershot, Ponds Forge, East Manchester and, lastly, Coventry, for the finale on 21/22 March. Click on fixtures pages to know where your club will be playing.

City of Bristol girls completed a hat-trick of victories in women's Division 2 at Newport, catapulting the team from sixth to second place at the start of the weekend and securing Championship 1 action in the second half of the season.

Yet, in the end, Bristol could still have missed out altogether. It wasn't until the final quarter of the final match - Bristol's clash with Otter Lutra - that the top five places were decided.

Situation when the last game began was that a win for either Bristol or Otter would put the successful team in Championship 1 but leave the losers in the bottom three and heading for Championship 2. But a draw would bring significant change, leaving four teams (Marlins, Sheffield Stingrays, Otter and Bristol) level on points. That would mean constructing a mini table based on matches involving the four – meaning that Mid Sussex Marlins, despite an 8-6 win against Welsh Wanderers in their final game, would miss out.

In the event, Bristol, coached by Craig Figes, beat Otter 7-4, breaking clear in the final quarter with goals by Anna Robbins, Heather Tomlinson and Lilymay Girvin (Picture: Trevor Hyde) after the sides were locked at 4-4.

Earlier, it was Marlins who produced the last quarter flourish against Wanderers, scoring through Amy Styles (2), Liv Henderson and Annah Bowles after the match moved to 4-4 at the start of the final period.
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Tyldesley beat Sheffield Stingrays 14-10 to complete a 100% record in the division. Scorers included Honor Grimes (4), Holly Toone (3), Eva Howarth (2), Kelsy Evans (2) and Jordan Parsons (2).

Tyldesley, Bristol, Welsh Wanderers, Mid Sussex Marlins and Sheffield Stingrays progress to Championship 1, with Otter Lutra, Liverpool Liver Birds and English Roses going to Championship 2.

In an extraordinary finale to the men’s Division 1 programme at Newport today, former champions Cheltenham went down 9-8 to Sutton & Cheam – and crash-landed into Championship 1 in the second phase of the season.

At the start of play, only champions City of Manchester and Solihull were sure of places in the Super 5s. It was a matter of working out the “what ifs” affecting other results – and there were plenty of those!

Invicta solved one problem straightaway when they opened with a 14-11 victory over Polytechnic.  They were then secure, no matter what happened in remaining matches.

Next up was the crunch fixture at Lancaster between Lancaster and Sheffield. A Lancaster win would carry them to the Super 5s. But a Sheffield victory would put Invicta, Lancaster and Sheffield level on points and (based on a mini table of results between those three) leave Lancaster to plummet into the bottom three – IF Cheltenham defeated Sutton & Cheam.

We’ve learned not to anticipate any result in Division 1 this season! Despite the best efforts on behalf of Lancaster of eight-goal Tom Curwen, Sheffield won 13-12, recovering from 5-2 down at one stage and eventually ensuring success with goals in the final quarter by Chris Armstrong and Ben Stephenson.

So it was all down to the very last fixture. Surely, Cheltenham would account for Sutton and head once again for the Super 5s? It looked that way as Cheltenham began the final period with a 6-4 lead. But Sutton, led by five-goal Stephen Bayles (Photo: Trevor Hyde), were having none of it, Carlo Diegone claiming the winner 1.38 from the end of a breathless campaign.

Manchester, 20-6 victors over Solihull, finished with a perfect record from seven matches. They are joined by Solihull, Sheffield, Invicta and Lancaster in the Super 5s, with Sutton & Cheam, Cheltenham and Polytechnic experiencing life in a very competitive Championship 1.

Lancaster produced a stunning end to day one of the weekend's men's Division 1 matches as they demolished Solihull 24-6. 

The win should see Lancaster in the Super 5s in the second half of the season. But that result really puts the cat among the pigeons as far as the other places are concerned. Champions City of Manchester and Solihull are already secure. But the final day will be tense for Sheffield, Invicta and Sutton & Cheam. Even Cheltenham are not totally clear of trouble.

Invicta grabbed a Super 5s lifeline at Newport today when Callum Bailey (Picture: Trevor Hyde) converted a penalty 25 seconds from the end to snatch a 13-12 victory over Cheltenham.

Defeat would have left Invicta, runners-up to Manchester in last season’s Super 5s, struggling to make the cut this time. Even now, there’s still no guarantee they will manage it. But this result is a huge boost before tomorrow’s final Division 1 game against Polytechnic.

The lead changed hands several times and Cheltenham, who had 42-year-old goalkeeper Mike Cowdell making a comeback in the absence of Sam Legge and Jack Simcox, levelled at 12-12 a minute and a half from the end when Adam Legge netted from a man-up chance. Sean King (4) and Jack Waller (3) led the Invicta scoring.

Lancaster and Sheffield, who meet tomorrow, both need points to clinch their Super 5s places.
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Manchester waited until the third period to lead Lancaster for the first time but, with Andrea de Caro and Kai Dowling both notching hat-tricks, the champions went on to win 10-8. Later, Mancehster maintained a 100 per cent record from six matches by defeating Sheffield 14-11, including another four goals for de Caro.

Earlier, Joel Abbott scored five for Sheffield but his team lost 10-9 to Solihull, for whom Arthur Davies and Matt Madden both scored a couple of goals. Sutton & Cheam registered their first win - 11-8 against Polytechnic. Four goals without reply in the third quarter by Dicken McLean, Stephen Bayles, Ryan Symington and Kieran Rutter made the difference.
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