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Lancaster Water Polo



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Published Date: 21 November 2007
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.
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Lancaster 8
Manchester 7
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 Glen Robinson and Csaba Kerekes before taking a two-goal lead themselves through Tom 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.
Scott Carpenter did find the net but Manchester regained the advantage and held a 7-6 lead 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 Colin Burgess on the left wing who chose to try an audacious lob.
This 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.

Lancaster 8
Bristol 9
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 a BBC TV crew.
Lancaster started brightly and soon established a 3-1 advantage through Carpenter, Curwen and 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 Rysz 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 10 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 day's great escape as Bristol ran out eventual winners by 9-8.
This was Lancaster's first home defeat in the National League for over six years and leaves the local side in third place behind Cheltenham and Bristol with four games to play.

The full article contains 569 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
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  • Last Updated: 21 November 2007 1:27 PM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Lancaster
 
 

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