Sharks (4) vs Lancaster (20)

Manchester’s LGBTQ+ Water Polo Club

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By teobot261 viewsabout 2 years ago

Player of the game

Daz - Thanks for the votes - it was great to be back playing after missing the last few matches and I enjoyed a few forays into the pit.

Honorable Mentions

Fergus - Was close to winning the POTM again after some great work in the pit

Dec - didn’t get sent out AGAIN

Ant - Scored his first goal of the season with a screamer in the last quarter

Noah - put a great shift in at centreback with some tough defending

Mark - his usual brilliant performance in goal

Rick T - great positioning and drives

Summary

After a long journey to Lancaster, we had a tough game against a very strong Lancaster team. We were missing quite a few of our key players but continued with the policy of rotating the subs and it paid off with a great team atmosphere and a feeling of togetherness.

We started well and managed to stop all of Lancaster’s initial attacks and Fergus had a decent chance saved early on. It took almost 3 minutes for Lancaster to break down our defense, but after that, we crumbled a little bit as we got caught on the break and they found some shooting form. Daz grabbed a goal back with a cheeky lob from outside, but we finished the quarter 6-1 down.

A stirring speech from Mark meant we defended much harder in the second quarter and only conceded 4 goals with Daz scoring another lob from the pit.

We leaked the most goals in the third quarter with lots of fast breaks resulting in us letting in 7, but at least Fergus ensured we continued our consistent return of 1 goal per quarter with an impressive turn and powerful shot from the pit after a great pass from Chris V on the wing.

Another rousing speech from Mark meant that we went into the last quarter giving it everything and defended like demons, only conceding 3 goals. It looked like we weren’t going to get our one goal per quarter but then with a minute to go Ant drove forward and let a rocket fly from far out. It was unstoppable and almost broke the net! And the fun wasn’t over, as we almost grabbed another with seconds to go when Chris unselfishly passed to Fergus, who just couldn’t quite finish with the goal at his mercy.

Overall this was a really good effort by everyone who played. We just need to work on getting more drives and movement up front and make sure we cover back to snuff out the counterattacks in the future.

Game Stats

No.PlayerMajorsGoals
1Mark
2Chris V
3
4Riso
5Ant11
6Rick T1
7Dec2
8Ruben
9
10Daz2
11Noah1
12Luke1
13Fergus1

Some favorite player moments

Ant’s goal

Rick got into some great positions did a lot of driving and generally played well

Mark made some great saves

Noah was great in pit at times as was Fergus (despite missing a practically open goal)

Loved Ants' corker of a goal

Rick telling us what he was doing wasn't in a condescending way or telling anyone off but more constructive and helpful

Fergus played well in pit attack and pit defense. He always seems to be watching what’s happening and looking for the ball.

Great to have Daz back in the pool and in form

Ant played Great too he did so much back n forth and got that 4th quarter goal

Shout out to Ruben who stopped their pit player with ease after tracking back and it was just them in front of the goal.

Rick's work around the pool again needs to be commended. If we could all take note from him about Drives then we would do so well.

Great team effort we didn't get too down trod and some amazing defense getting better each quarter.

Man downs continue to be getting stronger

Ant scored a cracking goal