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NWPL Pictures
@ Lancaster
@ Millfiled |
| |
PLD |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
PTS |
GD |
| Bristol |
17 |
14 |
0 |
3 |
210 |
150 |
28 |
60 |
| Lancaster |
17 |
12 |
2 |
3 |
266 |
155 |
26 |
111 |
| Cheltenham |
17 |
11 |
2 |
4 |
247 |
181 |
24 |
66 |
| Manchester |
17 |
8 |
0 |
9 |
195 |
175 |
16 |
20 |
| Rotherham |
17 |
8 |
0 |
9 |
211 |
204 |
16 |
7 |
Bristol ends Lancaster’s magnificent
five-year domination of the NWPL
Winners
1996,1998,1999,2000,2002, 2003,2004,2005,2006
Runners up
1992,1994,1995,2001,2007
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Scott Scores 109 Goals
Scott scored 109 goals in the 19 matches he played. That's nine more then last year. But the NWPL do not count the two GB games that he played so his NWPL score is 92 in 17 games.
A disappointing 163 majors
The first game of the NWPL; Lancaster V Cheltenham. Altogether 34 (Lancaster 22) exclusion, five (Lancaster 2) players dismissed for misconduct. T Lancaster totaled 163 majors which turns into £81.50 of fines. But was it all Lancaster fault or was this year a bad year for the refs? Only the refs know the real answer!
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Weekend:- One - Two - Three - Four - Five - Six - Seven
Weekend One - Ponds Fourge
Fairy Tale Ending for Mighty Jamie McIlquham
Lancaster started their 2007 National League campaign with a slight stutter, being held to a draw by last years runners up Cheltenham at 11 goals a piece but, the weekend ended on a high when Jamie McIlquham produced a story book ending to his final game with Lancaster’s water polo team, by scoring the team’s final goal in the very last second of their victory in the against Manchester on Sunday.
After being a reliable, talented, enthusiastic and valuable member of the team for the past five years both in training and in matches, Jamie made his last appearance for the side proving a vital part of the squad yet again.
The big Scot renowned for his powerful defensive attributes, has also produced some very important goals including an impressive four goal haul in the British Championships Final against Penguin in 2003.
Jamie, originally from Dundee, was attracted to the area by the reputation of Lancaster’s Swimming & Water Polo Club and, finding work locally was good proved good fortune for both him and the club. Along with partner Samantha, Jamie’s career is taking them on anew adventure to Australia the first week in October and his absence will be a great loss to the Lancaster side.
His final goal came literally with the last throw of the game after he had swum his powerful frame down the left hand side of the pool. A pass from Curwen was followed by a delicate lob from Jamie, the final whistle sounding as the ball floated over the top of the Manchester’s Great Britain keeper nestling comfortably in the back of the net. Although the ball was still in mid air, the fact that the shot had left his hand before the final whistle meant that the goal stood and the rest of his team mates spontaneously applauded in unison.
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11 |
11 |
Cheltenham |
Quarter Scores 4 -1, 2 - 2, 3 - 3, 2 - 5 |
Lancaster welcomed Ryan Pinington back into the squad at short notice after he declared himself fit to participate a couple of days before the weekend but missing, what could have proved to be a key contribution from Tom Curwen, still recovering from a minor operation. As the game panned out, it is highly likely that had Curwen been present, Lancaster would have pocketed both points.
Apart from the result and the typical first game ‘cobwebs’, the talking point of the game and for most of the weekend, certainly amongst the players was the new interpretation of disrespect by the referees. Although forewarned beforehand, nobody quite expected the harshness with which the new rule would be applied.
The basic instruction being that any dissent interpreted as disrespectful would result in immediate exclusion from the game and an automatic and immediate one match ban. By the end of the game five players had been excluded for dissent, three from Cheltenham and two from Lancaster, Andy Squires and Glen Robinson.
In the turmoil and con fusion of the game Lancaster also lost Chris Hartley to three majors a minute and a half into the third period and Colin Burgess with five minutes of the match remaining. Considering these and the other nine majors awarded against the side Lancaster did well to hang on to a point.
The match started well for Lancaster, Andy Squires powering home the first goal of the new season with others following from Scott Carpenter and Colin Burgess (2) putting the champions into a 4 -0 lead. Some of the players have not had the best pre-season preparation however, and the team suddenly lost its momentum and Cheltenham hit back to score from a man up 26 seconds from the end of the period.
The second period was an even affair as far as the goals went both teams adding to their tally. Chris Hartley and Carpenter notched Lancaster’s goals but crucially Hartley also suffered from two major foul exclusions.
Carpenter put his side four goals ahead at the start of the third but then the side lost Hartley on his third major. Lancaster still retained the ascendancy as the scoring went tit for tat, the period ending Lancaster 9-6 ahead.
When Squires netted Lancaster’s tenth everything was looking rosey for the champions, even when Cheltenham replied a minute later. Suddenly however the game was turned on its head, when Lancaster lost the services of Burgess and Squires inside a minute. Cheltenham scored to reduce the deficit to two with four minutes still remaining.
Glen Robinson responded slotting home a man up goal but Cheltenham were clearly buoyed by the recent turn of events. Three attacks in a row brought three goals, the first a penalty, the second a counter attack goal and, the third another penalty.
With two minutes to go Lancaster were relying on the big, ever impressive frame of Dave Bush to keep out the Cheltenham attack but the final chance to win the game actually fell to Lancaster when they were awarded a man up with just under 30 seconds to go.
Youngster Ciaran James quickly found himself free in front of goal with the ball on his hand but unused to having the patience required at the national league level, rushed his shot. The ball was blocked by the Cheltenham defence who also collected the rebound much to their players relief and the game ended with the points shared. |
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14 |
6 |
Polytechnic |
Quarter Scores 3 - 1, 3 - 0, 5 - 3, 2, 1 |
Lancaster faced their second match of the day missing three players from the Cheltenham game. Ciaran James, was banned and Andy Squires also banned for cursing his own team mates and, Colin Burgess who had had to leave his team works to go to work.
Subsequently the side included four juniors out of the five outfield players on the bench to support their colleagues. Lancaster started with Chris Hartley, Dave Bush, Jamie McIlquham, Ryan Pinington, Scott Carpenter and youngsters James Wannop and Glen Robinson in the water.
Apart from a couple of brief appearances from two of the youngsters, Ciaran James and Brett Sharpe, the remaining back up available was in the form of Zak Sly as keeper and, the old veteran Rysz Detko and new comers Dan Barker and Matt Little.
The early part of the game did not quite go to plan. Lancaster relying heavily on Carpenter stuttered up front and it was Poly who took a surprise lead early on. A couple of wasted man up opportunities were clear demonstration of the hesitation in Lancaster’s attacking play and it was somewhat of a relief when Carpenter finally netted his teams first goal after Poly had held the lead for some five minutes.
Fortunately Poly’s own attack was also stuttering largely thanks to the efforts of Hartley at the back and a reasonable pressing game form his colleagues. Lancaster maintained their counter attacking tempo with Dan Barker slotting into a mid bath role.
The second period remained tight but the honours fell to Lancaster with Chris Hartley and Jamie McIlquham controlling the Poly attack. Lancaster took a two goal lead with the prolific Carpenter netting both. Dan Barker made a debut appearance in mid bath linking well with his colleagues during the period.
The champions took firm control in the third quarter. Although Poly scored twice Lancaster netted five times to extend the lead to 8-3. Scorers were Carpenter (3), James Wannop and the veteran Rysz Detko with their first goals of the weekend.
During the quarter youngster Brett Sharpe was also given his first outing of the weekend and as with Barker earlier, Sharpe gave a steady performance.
As Poly tired Lancaster took full advantage and in the final period outscored the opposition by 6-3. Carpenter (2) brought his match tally to eight, Ryan Pinington showed some of his old flair despite not being match fit netting three and young Matt Little scored a well taken counter attack goal on his debut. |
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13 |
5 |
Manchester |
Quarter Scores |
On Sunday Lancaster lined up with almost full senior service resumed which was just as well as the four juniors, James, Barker, Sharpe and Little had left the team to participate in a Great Britain junior training session in Walsall.
Keeper Dave Bush had returned home, presenting Zak Sly with an opportunity to impress his colleagues with his goal keeping skills. Zak did not disappoint either, producing one of, if not his best goal keeping displays for the club with several outstanding saves.
Andy Squires returned after his ban, Colin Burgess was back from work and Tom Curwen, although not fully recovered made an appearance with plasters and tape covering his stitches.
The first goal came via Carpenter minute into the game but Manchester hit back almost immediately. Andy Squires then netted twice from a man up situations with Zak Sly denying Manchester in between. In the last three minutes of the quarter stale mate prevailed with both defences in the ascendancy against the attackers.
The second period was Lancaster’s. Three goals for and nil against put the champions firmly in command at the half way stage. Lancaster’s most successful goal scorers, Burgess, Carpenter and, Curwen netting one a piece.
Curwen netted early in the next period before Zak Sly was finally beaten for the second time but the opposition were generally being controlled by the Lancaster side. Burgess, McIlquham and Hartley were all coping relatively comfortably with Manchester’s two new centre forward signings. Carpenter produced another clever finish whilst Curwen blasted home shortly afterwards.
Manchester notched their third from a man up but Carpenter ended the quarter scoring when his shot proved too quick for Manchester’s GB keeper. Curwen netted his third of the period and Lancaster’s eleventh to putting the points beyond Manchester’s reach even though they managed to add one to their tally.
Detko slotted home inside the near post to extend the lead early in the fourth and after a couple of missed chances from both sides Manchester did manage to beat the impressive Zak Sly one more time.
The final and most poignant moment of the match came in the very last second though as McIlquham signed off his five year with Lancaster with a delicate lobbed goal from the left, beating the GB team keeper in the process. |
Weekend Two- Manchester
Lancaster City Water Polo on Goal Spree
Lancaster City, completed a successful weekend at Manchester where they achieved three victories in the 2007 campaign to defend their National Water Polo League Division 1 Title.
It was virtually raining goals all weekend as the local side rattled up a total of 74 goals against Penguin, Otter and Portobello.
Over the weekend Scot Carpenter scored 26 goals and took his personal tally to 43 which sees him well on his way to last seasons total of 100. However it is a team game and I am sure Scot would be the first to acknowledge that he would not be able to achieve the number of goals without the contributions from the remaining members of the squad.
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26 |
4 |
Penguin |
Quarter Scores 8 - 1, 5 - 0, 6 - 2, 7 -1 |
The first game of the weekend was against Penguin from West London. This game was virtually over by the end of the first quarter as Lancaster established an 8:1 advantage, the main goal contributions coming from Scot Carpenter, Tom Curwen, Glen Robinson and Ciaran James.
The start of the second quarter saw the introduction of new signing from Hungary - Csaba Kerekes. The momentum was kept up with Csaba settling in straight away and contributing two goals as Lancaster won the quarter 5:0 to stretch the lead to 13:1.finding. Lancaster took the opportunity to provide the younger members of the squad with valuable experience in the third and fourth quarter. However, this did not slow the scoring as the goals continued to flow as Lancaster eventually ran out convincing winners 26:4. Scot Carpenter contributing a personal tally of 10. |
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26 |
8 |
Otter |
Quarter Scores 9 - 2, 6 - 2, 8 - 1, 3 - 3 |
The second game of the weekend was against another London based side Otter, who gained promotion to Division 1 at the end of last season. Seasoned international Colin Burgess was rested for this game allowing further opportunities for the developing players in the squad. Lancaster again came out of the traps quickly establishing a 9:2 advantage by the end of the first quarter. New signing Csaba Kerekes announced him self to the league with 3 early strikes. Ryan Pinnington also contributed 3 but the main contribution came from Tom Curwen who hit a personal tally of 10 as Lancaster ran out comfortable winners by 26:8.
The Otter game featured promising performances from juniors Ciaran James, Brett Sharpe and Dan Barker as well as a sound performances from back up goalkeeper Zak Sly. |
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22 |
12 |
Otter |
Quarter Scores 6 - 3, 7 - 3, 2 - 3, 7 - 3 |
The final game of the weekend was against old rivals Portobello from Edinburgh. The Scottish Champions are currently going through a transitional stage but never fail to raise the game for the challenge of playing Lancaster. Burgess, returned for this game, and Lancaster came from a goal down to establish a 6:3 advantage at the end of the first quarter. Portobello continued to cause problems with their set plays down the right wing and cut the advantage back to 7: 6 before strikes just before half-time from Burgess, Hartley and Carpenter saw the advantage extended to 13:7. The second half was once again the Curwen and Carpenter show as between them the international forward line contributed 15 goals as Lancaster eased to a 22:12 victory. The performance of captain Chris Hartley is worthy of special mention as he was back to his best in marshalling the threat of opposition pit man Rutherford. Chris never seems happier than when faced with challenge of a one on one battle against a player 6 inches taller than him. |
Weekend Three- Millfield
Chance To Catch Up After Title Challenge Falters
A 13 – 8 defeat to Bristol last time out at Millfield means that when the two teams meet in Loughborough this weekend, Lancaster need to gain a quick revenge if they are to retain control of the destiny of the National League title this season. Bristol by virtue of their win sit one point ahead of last years champions and another victory would give them a significant 3 point advantage in the challenge for this years title.
Lancaster are hoping to field a more experienced side with Colin Burgess and Rysz Detko both unavailable last time round, expected to be present. Ryan Pinington, who was also missing is still struggling with a groin injury.
The Lancaster side got off to a steady start in Millfield and were holding their own until they lost the services of newcomer, Hungarian Szaba Kerekes for a third major foul early in the second period. As a result Lancaster were left for the remainder of the match with just one substitute, Ciaran James compared to a full Bristol squad who were travelling out for European competition after the weekend.
Lancaster’s remaining players, battled on led by Chris Hartley, Sean Love and Tom Curwen but they failed to produce the kind of form that brought them the league title last season with top scorer Scott Carpenter managing just one goal and youngsters James Wannop and Glen robinson having a tough time against their more senior opponenets. In the end Bristol obtained a relatively comfortable victory in the end.
Fortunately for the second match of the weekend Lancaster’s opponents Rotherham were also not quite at full strength and the team put up a battling performance to win by 12 – 8 and secure a valuable two points which still gives them a strong shout at the title.
Weekend Four- Loughborough
Lancaster City Water Polo – What A Difference A Day Makes!
Lancaster City, returned to National League action at Loughborough last weekend after a three week break. This was an important series of games as Lancaster faced a must win game against League leaders Bristol who inflicted a 13:8 defeat on Lancaster last time out.
The game against Bristol started at an impressive tempo with both sides generating early exclusions but failing to convert. Bristol opened the scoring mid way through the first quarter with a smartly taken shot by current international Matt Thresher. This only signaled an increase in effort from the local side who took the game to Bristol and responded with goals from Scot Carpenter plus an opportunist counter attack which was converted by veteran Rysz Detko to establish a 3:1 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
Bristol opened the scoring in the second quarter to bring the lead back to one. But as in the first quarter this only proceeded a further dominant spell from Lancaster who added a man up conversion by Csaba Kerekes and further goals from Scot Carpenter. Lancaster were now controlling all aspects of the play and built up a decisive advantage in the third quarter through efforts from Andy Squires, Tom Curwen and again Scot Carpenter as Lancaster established a commanding 12:2 lead by the end of the quarter.
The final quarter saw a more quiet period of action as the intensity dropped and Bristol opted for a damage limitation approach. Even so Curwen, Squires and Glen Robinson added further goals and keeper Dave Bush came to the party with a smart penalty save from current England Captain Craig Figes. By the end of the game Lancaster ran out comprehensive winners by 16 : 4 in what looked like being a pivotal game as previous leaders Bristol looked totally demoralised as they were replaced at the top of the league by Lancaster.
Sunday saw a return to action against Rotherham with Lancaster requiring a further victory to maintain their lead at the top of the League and hopes were high after the impressive performance against Bristol.
However what a difference a day made as Rotherham started quickly and soon established a 3:0 lead thanks to goals by Scholefield and Leighton. However, Lancaster recovered their composure and drew level at the start of the third quarter following goals from Kerekes, Curwen and Squires. This only proceeded a disastrous four minute spell at the end of the third / beginning of the fourth quarter as Rotherham once again established a three goal advantage. This time the local side did not manage to recover and despite a further goal from Kerekes Rotherham ran out 7:5 winners.
The Lancaster players were visibly stunned after the game following what can only best be described as a Jeckle & Hyde performance over the weekend. However, all is not lost as Lancaster still have control of their own destination and now face another must win game against new League leaders Cheltenham next time out at Bath on 10th November.
Weekend Six- Lancaster
Lancaster City Water Polo – Title Defence on the Brink
Lancaster’s hold on their National Water Polo League Championship is on the brink after an enthralling weekend of action at their home pool at Salt Ayre.
The first game of the weekend was against the rapidly improving local rivals from Manchester. The visitors started the game brightly and soon established a 2:0 lead through goals from Rae and Ryder.
Lancaster hit back with a goal from skipper Chris Hartley but Manchester re-established the two goal advantage by half time through Irish international Kirk.
Lancaster started the second half more positively and drew level thanks to goals from Robinson and Kerekes before taking a two goal lead themselves through Curwen and a second from Hartley. The final minute of the third quarter saw Manchester draw level after a man up conversion from Ryder.
Lancaster started the final quarter knowing that victory was essential but this appeared to bring on the nerves and a rash of wild passes and poor shot selection. As a result Manchester regained the advantage and held a 7:6 advantage as the clock showed less than a minute to go.
Ryder was excluded for Manchester and following a time out Curwen converted the man up to bring the sides level with 38 seconds left on the clock.
The relief in the crowd was tangible but Lancaster were not finished as they managed to turn over possession and pushed forward in search of an unlikely victory. As the clocked ticked down Lancaster moved the ball round and found Burgess on the left wing who chose to try an audacious lob which took England keeper Ed Scott totally by surprise and the crowd went wild as the ball trickled into the far corner of the net to seal an unlikely 8:7 comeback victory.
Sunday afternoon saw the challenge of Bristol. Bristol and Lancaster have dominated the National League for over a decade and shared the last 13 league titles between them. The games are always tight and the two previous meetings this season have seen one victory each.
The game was played in front of a full house and the atmosphere was enhanced by the presence of the local BBC TV crew.
Lancaster started brightly and soon established a 3:1 advantage through Carpenter, Curwen & Robinson. Lancaster then missed a good opportunity to extend the lead after Hartley hit the woodwork only for Bristol to initiate a swift counter attack and reduce the lead through a well taken goal by Danny Williams. The quarter ended level after an equaliser from Hutchins.
Lancaster regained the lead at the start of the second quarter through Carpenter and Detko but then struggled to find the net for over a full quarter as they went from 6:5 up to 9:7 down with under two minutes left. During this time the Home side managed to squander a total of ten man up advantages which was to prove pivotal. Detko reduced the margin to one in the final minute but there was to be no repeat of the previous days Great Escape as Bristol ran out eventual winners by 9:8.
This was Lancasters first home defeat in the National League for over 6 years and leaves the local side in third place behind Cheltenham and Bristol with four games to play. The destiny of the League Title is now out of Lancaster own control but all is not lost as Bristol face Cheltenham next time up and a Cheltenham victory would bring Lancaster back in to contention as coupled with a repeat of out victory earlier this season over Cheltenham could see us regain the advantage. Fingers crossed as we head to Millfield for the penultimate weekend of the season on December 1st & 2nd |
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