Champions City of Manchester opened up a clear lead at the top of women's Division 1 by making it four wins from four games at Bolton today.

They didn't have it all their own way early on, trailing 4-1 to Liverpool Lizards before taking over with five goals in the third period, then six in the last, including an Izzy Howe hat-trick - which ensured a 12-6 victory.

Later, Manchester ended Sheffield Sharks' winning 19-8. Izzy Howe - once again - Lucy Blenkinsop and Brooke Tafazolli all notched four goals. Sheffield had beaten Hucknall 14-5 earlier in the day, featuring four goals each for Amelia Peters and Anna Motley.

Coventry outplayed Otter 19-8. Rhianne Oscroft scored four and there were three goals each for Danni Elliot, Elia Cotton, Vicki Hawkins and Amy Berry.

​Cheltenham claimed their first win in style - 20-8 against Penguin Emperors, including three goals each for Amelia Perkins, Sofia Fountain, Elizabeth Ross and Faye Warren. 

Exeter are riding high in women's Div 2 after completing two more wins at Marlborough College today.

Following their 9-4 success against Mid Sussex Marlins, they followed up with an 11-7 victory in the West Country derby against City of Bristol. Once again, the excellent goalkeeping of Nina Rickards was one of the key elements of Exeter's double success. 

Tyldesley mounted a late recovery against Liverpool Liver Birds, recovering from 8-6 down to pull level at 8-8 in the final period. They were briefly ahead for the first time when Priya Kennedy's goal earned a 9-8 lead, but Liverpool grabbed a point at 9-9 with a penalty converted by Roisin O'Connor.

Earlier, City of Bristol almost came unstuck against Otter Lutra. They were 7-nil up early on and faced a spirited Otter fightback - including five goals by Hattie Bates - before edging a 13-12 win. Charlotte Pritchard's six goals led Manchester Comets to a 9-6 win against Rotherham Metro.
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In line with the previously-announced plan to shrink the size of the British League, big changes will happen at the end of this season – much of these depending on how teams perform in the remaining weeks of phase one.
 
At the start of the 2024/25 campaign, BWPL becomes even more of an elite competition – just two divisions for women (16 teams), three for men (24).
 
This is a result of the phased reduction agreed with some reluctance by the League committee in 2022 due to shortage of officials. Unfortunately, it means that, in some cases, a few clubs with great records of supporting, and playing in, BWPL will soon drop out. Here’s how it takes shape:

Women: No Championship 2 (C2) in phase 2 this season. Below Super 5s will be C1 (bottom 3 Div 1, top 5 Div 2). Bottom 3 Div 2 and Div 3 teams miss phase 2. Men: No C3 in phase two. Below Super 5s will be C1 (bottom 3 Div 1, top 5 Div 2) and C2 (bottom 3, Div 2, top 5 Div 3). No phase two for bottom three men’s 3 or Div 4 teams.

What will the League look like at the start of 2024/25?

Women: Two eight-team divisions – Div 1 (Super 5s, top 3 C1); Div 2 (bottom 5, C1, plus 6th team in Div 2 this season and top two from qualifying tournament). Men: Three eight-team divisions – Div 1 (Super 5s, top 3, C1); Div 2 (bottom 5 C1, 3 from C2); Div 3 (bottom 5 C2, plus 6th team from this season’s Div 3 and two qualifying).

How does qualification work? Teams entitled to enter – Women: 7th and 8th from Div 2, top 2 from Div 3. Men: 7th and 8th from Div 3, top 2 Div 4.

Sedgefield and Worthing share top spot in men’s Division 3, both undefeated and already guaranteed progress to Championship 2 in the second half of the season.

​The remaining three places in Championship 2 are very much up for grabs after the latest round of matches at Haberdashers and East Manchester.

Sedgefield easily disposed of Cheltenham Spartans, 22-6, while Worthing won 13-5 against Rotherham Metro.
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Castleford claimed their second win of the weekend – 14-7 against Otter - with Tom Hough scoring six. Croydon’s 14-9 victory over Manchester Hawks featured four goals apiece by Tom Andrews and Mark Bayliss. 

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Ethan Lecuyer (Blue 6) in action for Worthing at Haberdashers.

City of Birmingham made it four wins from four games with a 12-11 victory over Bridgefield in the top-of-the-table men’s Division 4 clash at East Manchester.

Bridgefield, suffering their first defeat, were level at 10-10 after three periods. Then Nathan Wilkes added his sixth goal for Birmingham, followed by another from Ryan Padbury. Tom Curwen replied with 1.43 to go, but that was the end of the scoring.

Adam Heywood (5), Euan Nesbitt (3) and skipper Craig Stewart (3) were the chief marksmen for Caledonia Storm, 15-13 winners against Newport. Josh Mills netted four for Watford Saxons, who beat the Army 13-8.
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Photo (Trevor Hyde): Lucas McNulty scores one of his two goals for Tyldesley in their 17-7 defeat by Avondale at Haberdashers. 

Worthing and Sedgefield stand level on points at the top of the men’s Div 3 table after completing winning doubles in their latest matches.

After beating Manchester Hawks 15-5 at Haberdashers, Worthing defeated Croydon 14-9, with George Wood helping himself to five goals. Meanwhile, at East Manchester, Sedgefield, 20-5 winners over Otter, followed up with a 12-6 victory over Castleford.

Earlier, Castleford had been involved in the most dramatic finish of the day. Goalkeeper Shaun Greatorex was their hero, scoring just one second from the end to give his side the points against Cheltenham Spartans, 15-14.

Defeat could not have been more cruel on Cheltenham youngster Harrison Walsh, who scored nine of his team’s goals.
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In men’s Division 4, Tom Curwen marked his first appearance of the season for table-topping Bridgefield by scoring six in a 15-9 defeat of Caledonia Storm, then six more as Bridgefield outplayed Newport 20-7. 

Photo (Trevor Hyde): Mike Chadwick on the attack for the Army in their 18-9 win against Avondale at Haberdashers today.  

What a great weekend for Scotland’s two clubs in women’s Division 3!

Caledonia and Kirkintilloch & Kilsyth both completed their third wins at Walsall, Kirkintilloch ending Sheffield Stingrays’ 100 per cent record in emphatic style – 23-9. Carolina Ioannou (7) and Eugenia Arbus (4) led the scoring.
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Caledonia were too strong for Welsh Wanderers. Their 18-6 victory featured another six goals by Nicola Tate, taking her tally for the weekend to 13.

However, it's Watford who take top spot with an undefeated record after outplaying Solihull 18-1, featuring eight goals from Lottie Winstanley (Photo: Trevor Hyde). The Division 3 programme finishes at Northampton on 11/12 November, when Watford face Welsh Wanderers, Sheffield Stingrays and Birmingham.  

Watford and the youthful Sheffield Sharks team retained their 100 per cent records with further successes in women’s Division 3 at Walsall today.

​Four goals from Laura Page helped Watford overcome Southampton 14-8 while Ruby Taylor and Severn Annakin both completed hat-tricks in the Sharks’ 12-10 victory against Welsh Wanderers.

Caledonia completed two big wins – 15-10 against Solihull and 18-5 against Birmingham. It was a similar story for the other Scottish team, Kirkintilloch & Kilsyth, who amassed 55 goals in runaway victories over the same two Midlands clubs.

From Instanbul to Novi Sad in Serbia, BWPL clubs will be taking part in the European Challenger Cup from 19-22 October. And you can follow the games – live, or recorded - at any time on the European Aquatics YouTube Channel. Here's how our teams have been drawn:

Women

Group A (Novi Sad, Serbia): ZAVK Mladost (Croatia), VK Jadran Split (Croatia), VK Vojvodina (Serbia), ODTÜ SC (Turkey), City of Manchester.

Group C (Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria): Sirens Malta, Clube Fluvial Portuense (Portugal), ZVK Crvena Zvezda (Serbia), Otter, KVT Lokomotiv-N. Nanov (Bulgaria).

Men

Group B (Mouscron, Belgium): Carouge Natation (Switzerland), VK Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina), ODTÜ SC (Turkey), RD Mouscronnois (Belgium), City of Manchester.

Group C (Istanbul): Galatasaray (Turkey), KVP Novaky (Slovakia), Sporting Clube de Portugal (Portugal), Polytechnic.
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The top two in each group progress to the next stage of the competition. Good luck to all our teams!

After their day one defeat at the hands of Welsh Wanderers, champions Polytechnic responded with an easy 19-7 victory over Sutton & Cheam in men’s Division One at Watford today. Liam Neill scored four and there were two goals apiece for David Rom, Federico Carucci, Zack Herberstein and Chris Icely.

Wanderers completed a second win – 13-2 against Lancaster. Joe Jenkins-Delf (Photo: Trevor Hyde) was again in sparkling form, adding six to his seven-goal haul against Poly.

Cheltenham secured their first points with a 12-10 success against Sheffield. But Penguin lost for a second time – well beaten 17-7 by City of Manchester, for whom Ben Grech, Joe O’Regan and James Blenkinsop all claimed hat-tricks.