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Match Review

15/2/2010

Please receive a Report of the first tournament in the 2010 South East Regional Men's water polo championships.

Basingstoke Aquadrome.

Saturday 30th January.

Match 1.

Worthing 23, Jersey 7.

Scorers: Matt White 5, Joel Abbott 4, Paul Phillpott 4, Ziggy Tate 3, Sam Abbott 3, Alastair Hardinge 2, Nathan Hart 1, Ben Alcorn 1.

Exclusions: Joel Abbott 2, Nathan Hart 1, Sam Abbott 1.

Match 2.

Worthing 21, Southampton 12.

Scorers: Joel Abbott 10, Ziggy Tate 4, Paul Phillpott 4, Matt White 1, Sam Abbott 1, Nathan Hart 1.

Exclusions: Matt White 1, Sam Abbott 1, Ziggy Tate 1, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Sunday 31st January.

Match 3.

Worthing 10, East Invicta 6.

Scorers: Matt White 3, Nathan Hart 3, Sam Abbott 2, Joel Abbott 1, Paul Phillpott 1.

Exclusions: Rob Osborne 1, Stuart Stirling 1, Nathan Hart 1.

Match 4.

Worthing 16, Oxford 11.

Scorers: Joel Abbott 8, Matt White 4, Richard Hooper 2, Stuart Stirling 1, Nathan Hart 1.

Exclusions: Alastair Hardinge 1, Matt White 1, Paul Phillpott 1, Jon Gray 1.

Squad in Full: Ben Alcorn, Matt White, Joel Abbott, Sam Abbott, Alastair Hardinge, Paul Phillpott, Ziggy Tate, Nathan Hart, Rob Osborne, Alexander Cranford, Andy Cawdery, Jon Gray, Stuart Stirling, Richard Hooper.

Overall this was a highly satisfactory tournament when the team played some good water polo. This was the first competitive event for many members of the team since the end of the national league season at the beginning of December and it was obvious that fitness levels will need to improve in the coming weeks and months.

The second tournament takes place in Jersey in March.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

6/1/2010

Welcome to the first water polo report of 2010!

With the year only 3 days old, the 2010 water polo season commenced with the first London league junior tournaments.

Having only finished the 2009 season in mid-December this seems an incredibly early start to our competition program but we have an increasingly busy calendar.

The report is as follows:

London Winter League Junior Boys Division.

Tournament 1.

Watford Leisure Centre.

Sunday 3rd January 2009.

As already mentioned, this event was a very early start to the 2010 season and we travelled to the new deep water pool in Watford in freezing temperatures.

Having not trained for the past three weeks because of the Christmas break we knew that we might be a little lacking in match sharpness but we knew that we would be competitive.

The three individual match reports are as follows:

Match 1. Worthing 3, Beckenham 4. (H/T 2-4)

This was a disappointing result, particularly after we took an early 2 goal lead.

Unfortunately, our lack of match practice was evident and we missed lots of chances that we would normally expect to score from. We also made a number of basic defensive errors which were punished and we never quite played to our potential.

We weren't helped by some bizarre refereeing and this was to become an issue in all the games we played on the day.

Scorers: Sam Abbott 2, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Exclusions: Sam Abbott 2, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Match 2. Worthing 7, Watford 4. (H/T 3-1)

A better performance that we always controlled and it was good to see a number of the younger players make significant contributions.

We still didn't quite play to our full potential but we did score some good goals and our defending was of a much better standard.

Scorers: Sam Abbott 3, Alastair Hardinge 1, Nathan Tonkin 1, Alexander Cranford 1, Kevin Chan 1.

Exclusions: Kevin Chan 1, Nathan Tonkin 1, Alexander Cranford 1, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Match 3. Worthing 3, Croydon Amphibians 3. (H/T 3-1)

A terrific match which was spoilt by poor refereeing which didn't help either team but served to frustrate the players, coaches and supporters.

We played particularly well in the first half and scored 3 excellent goals as a result of good all-round team play.

In the second half Croydon came back into the match but we were very unlucky to concede a late equalizer.

The draw was probably a fair result and Sam Wildman, who is 4 years younger than this age group, made a number of excellent saves in goal.

Scorers: Alexander Cranford 2, Sam Abbott 1.

Exclusions: Alastair Hardinge 2, Alexander Cranford 1.

Squad in Full: Sam Wildman (G/K), Alastair Hardinge, Sam Wildman, Alexander Cranford, Kevin Chan, Nathan Tonkin, Peter Flynn, Olly Rainford, Charlie Jones.

Overall this was a slightly disappointing return because we really should have won the first match against Beckenham but unfortunately we didn't quite play well enough to secure the right result.

But the team improved with each match and we did play well, particularly in the first half, against a strong Croydon team.

We don't have to wait long for the second tournament in this competition. It takes place this coming Sunday (10th January) at Whitgift school in South Croydon.

Finally, the junior girls version of this competition also started on Sunday and for the first time Sussex have entered a very young team with players drawn from Worthing, Mid-Sussex Marlins and Crawley.

Worthing girls Tara Osborne, Laura Joseph and Rachel Piper (who captained the team) were part of the squad and they played 3 very competitive matches in the first of three tournaments.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

15/12/2009

This is the latest, and the final, water polo report of 2009.

We started the year on the 4th January with a junior boys tournament at Whitgift School and it's probably fitting that the competitive season has ended with another event at the same venue.

London Winter League.

Under 16 (1994 & Younger) Mixed Championship.

Tournament 2, Whitgift School, South Croydon.

Sunday 13th December.

We travelled to Whitgift school for the final time this year to play the second round of this seasons under 16 championship.

Once again we selected a very young team with only Jacques Williams, who was playing in his first competitive matches for the club, actually born in the top year of the age group.

As a result we knew that we faced 4 very tough matches but the idea is to offer a competitive level of play for all the squad that will benefit them in the long run.

The individual match reports are as follows:

1. Worthing 0, Croydon Amphibians 10. (H/T 0-6)

This was very difficult first match for the team against the best team in the competition and we struggled to come to terms with the speed and size of a well drilled opposition.

The first half was particularly difficult but we settled down in the second period and played a better standard and we created a number of chances that we should have scored from.

Scorers: None

Exclusions: Sam Wildman 1, Laura Joseph 1.

2. Worthing 1, Mid Sussex/Crawley 3. (H/T 0-1)

A much better performance when we defended with a great deal more cohesion and as a result limited the opposition to a small number of chances.

The opposition keeper was always busy and we forced him to make a number of fine saves.

Scorer: Charlie Jones 1.

Exclusions: Sam Wildman 1, Ben Goddard 1.

3. Worthing 2, Hythe 3. (H/T 0-2)

After the improvement in the previous match we were confident of doing well in the match against Hythe but unfortunately we played well below our normal standard and as a result lost a match we really should have won.

The first half was the key when we missed chance after chance as well as conceding two very poor goals defensively. It was very disappointing to lose a match we really should have been good enough to win but the lack of experience was probably what cost us the chance of recording a positive result.

Scorers: Laura Joseph 1, Ben Goddard 1.

Exclusions: None.

4. Worthing 3, Sutton & Cheam 5. (H/T 2-2)

A very exciting match where the team played much better and were unfortunate not to at least secure a draw.

We were very unlucky with two refereeing decisions that cost us goals but the team kept going well and created a number of good chances.

Charlie scored two excellent goals from 5 metre direct free throws and Laura also scored a good goal at the end of a swift counter-attack.

Scorers: Charlie Jones 2, Laura Joseph 1.

Exclusions: Olly Rainford 1.

Squad in Full: Henry Jackson, Joe Hazeldine, Ben Goddard, Laura Joseph, Tara Osborne, Sam Wildman, Olly Rainford, Charlie Jones, Jacques Williams.

Overall, the team is showing signs of improvements and the decision to play some of the younger players in this age group (Ben Goddard is 4 years younger) will undoubtedly be beneficial on the longer term.

Hopefully all the squad are learning from playing against older and in some cases better players and I am sure that the team will improve as a result of this competition.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

7/12/2009

Last weekend was probably the busiest ever for water polo at Worthing SC.

Our men's team completed the national league program at Walsall and I have already filed the report of what was an exciting climax to the end of the season.

On Saturday our ladies squad competed in the annual Basingstoke tournament and in the evening some of our youngsters played in the under 14 inter-county tournament at Whitgift School.

A full report of the Basingstoke event follows but we should congratulate Joe Hazeldine and Callum Craven who both appeared for the county team. Sam Wildman and Henry Jackson were also originally selected but unfortunately were unavailable for this particular date.

Basingstoke Ladies Tournament.

Saturday 5th December 2009.

Basingstoke Aquadrome.

We always enjoy the chance to play in this annual event at the deep water Aquadrome pool.

For this event we decided to take the opportunity of playing two of our under 16 girls for the first time in women's polo and Tara Osborne and Laura Joseph were looking forward to playing in a senior competition.

Unfortunately a number of our regular senior players were unavailable for this date for a number of reasons but we were determined to play and so two guest players from Beckenham joined us for this tournament.

The match scores are as follows:

Match 1.

Worthing 4, City of Southampton 2.

Scorers: Debby Willett 1, Anna Newell 1, Chrissy Pilcher 1, Jenny Willett 1.

Match 2.

Worthing 5, Bournemouth 5.

Jenny Willett 4, Anna Newell 1.

Match 3.

Worthing 2, Basingstoke 5.

Anna Newell 2.

Match 4.

Worthing 5, Southampton University 2.

Anna Newell 2, Chrissy Pilcher 1, Jenny Willett 1, Laura Joseph 1.

We finished as runners-up to the eventual winners from Bournemouth but all the squad thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and the two youngsters got particularly good reviews form all the senior players. Laura scored an excellent goal and Tara played well and both will have learnt a great deal from the experience.

Squad in full: Jenny Willett, Debby Willett, Chrissy Pilcher, Anna Newell, Eimear O'Connor, Tara Osborne, Laura Joseph.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

7/12/2009

This is the final report of our debut season in the National League.

The final weekend is played on the basis of a top four play-off mini league with the team finishing top automatically promoted and the runners-up able to challenge the second bottom team in Division 3.

With results carried forward from the original league program Exeter were strong favorites for automatic promotion but if results worked in our favor we hadn't ruled out the possibility of taking the title.

To achieve this we knew that we would probably have to win all three games but were travelling with a full squad and with the longest unbeaten run in the league. We hadn't lost since the first weekend at Sheffield and we felt that tactically we had the game plan to get the results we required.

These are the individual match reports:

National League Division 4.

Play-off Weekend.

Walsall Gala Baths, 5/6 December 2009.

Match 1, Saturday 5th December, 16.40.

Worthing 13, Grantham 13.

Quarter Scores: 3-5, 4-3, 5-2, 1-3.

A pulsating game where the lead changed hands on several occasions with neither team able to take complete control.

The final result was probably all that we deserved to take from a match where we played poorly at both the start and the end. It was probably the slow start that really hurt our chances and at one point during the first quarter we actually trailed 1-5. We got back to 3-5 by the end of the period but the damage had been done and we never really rediscovered our composure.

In quarters two and three we played better and going into the final period we had a two goal advantage but we were guilty of missing other chances that might have made the game safe.

The final quarter was full of incident with Grantham scoring twice to level the match before a bizarre final minute and a half. Firstly Grantham scored again to take the lead and then we immediately called a time out to try and set a attacking plan for the last minute. Elan was then unlucky to be excluded and after Grantham had called a timeout we managed to save the shot and regain possession. We took our final time-out with 48 seconds remaining but we gave the ball away poorly and Grantham had a chance to make the game safe on the breakaway but the shot was saved. A long pass to Elan saw us score a dramatic equaliser with only 8 seconds remaining and we had stolen a point at the death.

We realised that this result wasn't really what we needed but this was our eighth game unbeaten and only the later results would tell us how much this dropped point would hurt our chances.

Scorers: Paul Phillpott 4, Richard Hooper 3, Elan Stark 3, Dominic Cranford 1, Joel Abbott 1, Sam Abbott 1.

Exclusions: Joel Abbott 2, Elan Stark 1, Sam Abbott 1.

Match 2, Sunday 6th December, 11.10.

Worthing 13, Ealing 17.

Quarter Scores: 4-4, 5-5, 1-5, 3-3.

Another tough and uncompromising match against a talented Ealing team.

Once again we never quite played our best water polo and although the match was tight, especially up to half-time, we were always missing chances and giving away the odd poor goal defensively.

Ealing are a physical team but they also feature a number of talented individuals who can influence the game if they are allowed the space to play. Unfortunately our defending was not quite up to the standard of some of the previous matches and we were guilty of allowing them too much time and space on the ball.

The match was really decided in the third quarter when we lost our shape defensively and as a result conceded a number of poor goals. We continued to miss chances at the other end and we started the final period with a four goal deficit.

The match unfortunately was held up for five minutes when one of the Ealing players suffered an injury at the start of the final quarter and this didn't help either teams concentration. We probably suffered more with the long delay giving the opposition the chance to re-group and although we never stopped trying to get back into the game we didn't quite have the energy to make things happen.

This was our first defeat after the long unbeaten run and it meant that as a result we would have to beat Exeter, who had already secured the league title, in the final match to secure the runners up position.

Scorers: Richard Hooper 5, Joel Abbott 4, Elan Stark 2, Paul Phillpott 2.

Exclusions: Paul Phillpott 3, Nathan Hart 2, Richard Hooper 1, Joel Abbott 1, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Match 3, Sunday 6th December, 17.00.

Worthing 15, Exeter 19.

Quarter Scores: 6-5, 3-4, 5-2, 5-4.

Going into the final match of the season we knew that we had to win to secure the runners-up position and as a result we would have the chance to play off for a place in division 3 for next season.

At the pre-match meeting we discussed at length the need to deal with the two Exeter players who lead the league top scorers table and we developed a tactical plan to specifically deal with the threat that they posed. In the main this plan worked well at at one stage in the first period we led 5-1.

As the match went on Exeter started to to create more chances and once again we began to miss at crucial moments which had been our problem in all the games.

But the team kept going and we continued to trouble the Exeter defence forcing the opposition goalkeeper to make a number of excellent saves.

Unfortunately in the second half of the match we didn't quite play well enough to force the win that we needed but all the squad kept going until the end and it was nice to see Alexander Cranford create our final goal of the season for Paul Phillpott.

The defeat meant that we finished third in the table which is an excellent effort in our debut season in national competition but all the squad were disappointed that we had come so close to a top two finish.

Scorers: Paul Phillpott 5, Joel Abbott 4, Richard Hooper 3, Elan Stark 2, Nathan Hart 1.

Exclusions: Elan Stark 2, Alastair Roberts 1, Richard Hooper 1, Joel Abbott 1, Paul Phillpott 1, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Squad in Full: Gregg Candy-Wallace, Andy Cawdery, Richard Hooper, Dominic Cranford, Sam Abbott, Alexander Cranford, Elan Stark, Nathan Hart, Joel Abbott, Paul Phillpott, Alastair Hardinge, Alastair Roberts.

Finally, we travelled many miles to the 5 weekend tournaments and the team was well supported by a large number of friends and family who attended every event. We are particularly proud of the money that we raised for Cancer research as part of our fundraising project that was developed to help our participation in the national league. We should also thank the number of individuals, as well as the swimming club, who made many donations that have helped fund the team throughout the season.

We plan to be back in 2010 when the experience gained in this campaign will undoubtedly be of great benefit.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

23/11/2009

This is the latest report of our debut season in the national water polo league.

Having played at Sheffield, Walsall and Marlborough we returned to the Walsall Gala baths for the final "regular season" fixtures before the final tournament play-offs.

This weekend tournament originally should have been played at Nottingham University pool two weeks ago but the event was called off on the Monday before it should have taken place. As a result of the change we have lost money for accommodation and rail fares that were non-refundable and Sam Abbott and Alexander Cranford were unavailable for the re-arranged date.

We knew that we faced 3 tough matches including a game against the early pace setters of the division, west London Ealing and these are the individual match reports:

National League Division 4

Weekend 4, Walsall Gala Baths 21/22 November 2009

Match 1, Saturday 21st November, 18.10 start.

Worthing 17, Ealing 14.

Quarter Scores: 2-3, 9-6, 2-2, 4-3.

This was a pulsating game against a talented team who are highly competitive and very physical in their approach.

We spoke at length at the pre-match meeting about the strength of the opposition are particularly the playing style that they employ and it didn't take all the squad long to realise that this was going to be a very tough game.

The first quarter was relatively even with both teams taking time to find out the relative strength of the opposition. A 3-2 deficit at the end of the period was mainly as a result of of two poor defensive errors that were punished. In attack we looked dangerous and Nathan Hart opened the scoring with an excellent shot into the top corner.

The second period was a crazy affair with 15 goals scored with both teams struggling to deal with the opposition team's attacking game. We did manage to get ahead and we ended the period with a two goal advantage but the match was far from over.

The third quarter was the pivotal period of the match and the key moment was with 1 minute and 2 seconds left in the quarter when one of the opposition players was dismissed for brutality after an off the ball incident with Joel Abbott. As a result they were punished with an immediate penalty converted by Richard Hooper and we also scored 3 more times in the period of 4 minutes that they had to play with a man short.

That made the game safe and we kept possession well in the final period while running down the clock.

This was massive win for the Worthing team after a really tough game against one of the best teams in the division.

Scorers: Richard Hooper 5, Paul Phillpott 4, Joel Abbott 3, Nathan Hart 3, Elan Stark 1, Dominic Cranford 1.

Exclusions: Joel Abbott 2, Gregg Candy-Wallace 1, Dominic Cranford 1, Paul Phillpott 1, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Match 2, Sunday 22nd November, 09.10 start.

Worthing 19, Bedford 7.

Quarter Scores: 6-1, 5-1, 5-3, 3-2.

The final score indicates that this was a relatively easy win against a team who struggled throughout with our attacking play and our well drilled defence.

We were always in control after a dominant first quarter but we made a number of elementary mistakes through-out the match which were hugely disappointing. We conceded a number of goals that were down to poor play both individually and collectively and against a better team we would have been punished more often.

The most disappointing aspect of the game was the dismissal of Richard Hooper for dissent mid-way through the third quarter. As a result of the new automatic sanctions he misses the final match of the weekend against Newcastle.

A win is a win, but this was a scrappy affair that we should not have been drawn into and the consequences will only be known when we play Newcastle in our final match of the weekend.

Scorers: Joel Abbott 8, Richard Hooper 3, Paul Phillpott 3, Elan Stark 3, Dominic Cranford 2.

Exclusions: Richard Hooper 3, Andy Cawdery 1, Dominic Cranford 1, Paul Phillpott 1.

Match 3, Sunday 22nd November, 16.10 start.

Worthing 13, Newcastle 9.

Quarter Scores: 3-2, 5-2, 3-2, 2-3.

The final match of the weekend was against a strong Newcastle team who feature the ex-GB international player Neil Bowers.

We were without Richard but Alexander Cranford joined our squad for this game on his way back from Sheffield where he had been competing.

Newcastle can be very awkward opponents and although their results have been mixed through-out the national league season they have the ability to play a very high standard of water polo.

We again employed our zone defence which has been successful in the past few games and and it is designed to frustrate the opposition forcing shots from distance.

The tactic worked well again and Newcastle struggled to create many chances against our disciplined defending.

The key period of the match was probably the second quarter when we increased our advantage from 3-2 to 8-4. With the squad tiring after having played the three games in two days, the second half of the match saw the team play good possession water polo to take as much time out of the game as possible.

We continued to control the match and the final score was fair reflection of the difference between the two teams.

This was another tough game and we were pleased to record our 7th win a row in the regular season.

Scorers: Elan Stark 4, Joel Abbott 4, Paul Phillpott 3, Gregg Candy-Wallace 1, Nathan Hart 1.

Exclusions: Nathan Hart 3, Elan Stark 2, Joel Abbott 1, Paul Phillpott 1.

As a result of these three victories we have finished the season with eight wins and two defeats which were both at the first weekend at Sheffield. We have finished second in the table (subject to final confirmation) and we will play in the final weekend top four play-off to decide the championship.

This is an excellent result for the squad and we return to Walsall in two weeks time for the play-off believing that we are capable of beating all of the other three teams that are involved. (Exeter, Grantham and Ealing)

Squad in full: Paul Phillpott, Andy Cawdery, Nathan Hart, Dominic Cranford, Richard Hooper, Alastair Roberts, Gregg Candy-Wallace, Elan Hart, Alastair Hardinge, Joel Abbott, Alexander Cranford (against Newcastle)

Regards,

Alastair

Match Review

9/11/2009

London Winter League 2009-2010.

Under 16 Championship (1994 + Younger)

Tournament 1, Whitgift School, Croydon.

Sunday 8th November 2009.

We decided to enter this competition with a very young team knowing that we would face some particularly difficult matches

Our team at this tournament didn't include anyone who is in the final year in this age group. (Born 1994) With all the squad at least a year younger (Ben Goddard is actually 4 years younger born in 1998), we knew that we would be facing older, and more experienced teams from around the south-east.

The individual match reports are as follows:

1.Worthing 0, Sutton & Cheam 7. (H/T 0-3)

A tough match against a talented team who were physically stronger than our young squad.

We did play some good water polo at times and we did force the opposition goalkeeper to make a number of good saves.

Scorers: None

Exclusions: Charlie Jones 2, Sam Wildman 2.

2. Worthing 0, Hythe 5. (H/T 0-4)

A slightly disappointing first half when we struggled to come to terms with the opposition but in the second period we showed much greater application and we were unlucky not to score on several occasions.

Scorers: None

Exclusions: None

3. Worthing 2, Mid Sussex 8. (H/T 1-6)

The first half of this match was probably our poorest period of play during the four matches and we defended naively at times.
During the second period we produced a much better display and we created many chances,especially when we turned over possession.

The two goals scored were fair reward but our first-half display had left us too much to do.

Scorers: Joe Hazeldine 1, Sam Wildman 1.

Exclusions: Joe Hazeldine 2, Sam Wildman 2.

4. Worthing 0, Croydon Amphibians 6. (H/T 0-2)

An excellent first half performance when again we missed several good chances.

The second-half saw the team start to tire but we kept going to the end.

Scorers: None

Exclusions: Ben Goddard 1.

Squad in Full: Oliver Rainford, Henry Jackson, Laura Joseph, Tara Osborne, Karen Chan, Joe Hazeldine, Sam Wildman, Ben Goddard, Charlie Jones.

This was a really tough event for the squad but I hope that they will all have learnt a great deal from playing against some of the high quality and more experienced players in the opposition teams.

We actually did play some good water polo at times and the squad will benefit from this type of tough competition in the longer term.

Regards,

Alastair Roberts.

Match Review

25/10/2009

Men's National League Division 4.

Weekend 3, Marlborough School.

Sunday 25th October 2009.

Worthing 15, Grantham 10. (Quarter Scores: 5-1, 4-4, 4-3, 2-2)

The latest match in our debut season in the national league always looked to be a demanding fixture against a much improved Grantham team.

The fixture computer had strangely only allocated us one match for the weekend and so we faced a 220 mile round trip to the excellent deep water pool at Marlborough school for this important encounter.

We were pleased to travel with a squad of 11 for this match with the addition of debutants Andy Cawdery and Alexander Cranford who became the youngest player to represent us in the national league.

The match was always going to be hard-fought affair and this proved to be the case. We did make an excellent start and in the first quarter our zonal defence was again hugely influential in frustrating the opposition.

We scored a number of excellent goals during the match and we always posed Grantham problems either from the centre-forward position or with our longer range shooting. Richard scored with 1 second left of the third period with a fierce shot from distance into the far corner and this was probably the key moment in ending Grantham's resistance. This made the match score 13-8 and during the final period we played our possessions to run down the clock and secure another fine win.

Once again our defensive play was of a high standard and we continued our excellent record by conceding only 2 exclusion fouls in this match.

Scorers: Richard Hooper 4, Paul Phillpott 4, Joel Abbott 3, Elan Stark 2, Sam Abbott 1, Andy Cawdery 1.

Exclusions: Richard Hooper 2.

Squad in Full: Gregg Candy-Wallace, Andy Cawdery, Richard Hooper, Alexander Cranford, Sam Abbott, Elan Stark, Nathan Hart, Joel Abbott, Paul Philpott, Alastair Hardinge, Alastair Roberts.

This was another good win but all the squad realized that we probably hadn't played quite as well as at the previous weekend at Walsall when we won all three matches. But the win was definitely fair reward and we will go the final regular season tournament at Nottingham University knowing that we still have a good chance of being involved in the final four play-off.

At Nottingham we will play a full 3 match program against Newcastle, Bedford and Ealing which will be demanding series of games.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

17/10/2009

Sussex Senior League.

Wednesday 14th October.

Worthing 20, Hastings 11. (Quarter scores: 6-3, 3-3, 3-2, 8-3)

This was a straightforward win against a Hastings senior team that was strengthened by the appearance of current GB senior international player, Jack Waller.

The Worthing team was always in control and a dominant final quarter saw the final score give a fair reflection of the difference between the teams.

Our zonal defence made it very difficult for Jack Waller to create many chances and we coped well with his obvious attacking threat restricting him to 4 goals.

The Worthing attack was led by Paul Phillpott, who after the success of the previous weekend in the national league fixtures at Walsall continued his good form with a 10 goal haul.

Scorers: Paul Phillpott 10, Ziggy Tate 4, Richard Hooper 3, Jon Gray 1, Sam Abbott 1, Dominic Cranford 1.

Exclusions: Jon Gray 1, Dominic Cranford 1.

Squad in full: Alexander Cranford, Ziggy Tate, Jon Gray, Richard Hooper, Rob Osborne, Sam Abbott, Dominic Cranford, Andy Cawdery, Tony Gray, Nathan Hart, Paul Phillpott.

The next senior match is in the national league (division 4) when we play Grantham at the Marlborough school pool on Sunday 25th October.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

11/10/2009

This is the report of the second weekend of Worthing's debut season in Division 4 of the men's national league.

Having played 3 exciting matches at the first tournament in September at Ponds Forge in Sheffield winning 1 match with 2 close defeats, we were very much looking forward to this event.

The individual match reports are as follows:

National League Division 4, Tournament 2.

Walsall Gala Baths

Match 1.

Saturday October 10th, 12.00.

Worthing 29, RAF 7. (Quarter Scores: 6-3, 8-1, 8-2, 7-1)

A satisfactory win against an enthusiastic but technically limited RAF team who made a spirited start to this match but soon struggled against our well drilled team play.

The first quarter saw the Worthing team take time to get into the match and we conceded 3 goals that really should have been avoided. We soon worked out the best tactics for this opposition and we dominated the final 3 quarters of the match.

Our zonal defence was the key factor in the teams success, and the RAF always struggled to create many opportunities once we got ourselves organized.

In attack we always posed problems for the opposition and we scored goals both from the centre forward position as well as with shots from distance.

Overall this was a satisfactory win, but the team realized that the second match of the day against Cambridge would probably be a much tougher affair.

Scorers: Paul Phillpott 9, Richard Hooper 7, Joel Abbott 5, Sam Abbott 3, Nathan Hart 2, Elan Stark 2, Gregg Candy-Wallace 1.

Exclusions: Joel Abbott 2, Nathan Hart 1.

Match 2.

Saturday October 10th, 17.50.

Worthing 14, Cambridge 10. (Quarter Scores: 2-3, 6-3, 2-0, 4-4)

This was an excellent match against a talented Cambridge team who had been unbeaten at the first weekend.

At the pre-match meeting we discussed in detail a defensive plan that was designed to frustrate and limit the oppositions scoring opportunities and it was pleasing that for long periods our tactics were successful.

The first quarter was a close affair with both teams finding out the relative strengths of the opposition and we were a little unlucky to finish the period a goal down. The second quarter was the key period in the match and we scored some excellent goals to take control of the match. Joel scored 2 excellent goals from the centre forward position but the team looked well organized and always dangerous when in possession.

The third period saw the team continue to dominate proceedings and into the final quarter we maintained possession for long periods while running down the remaining playing time.

Overall, an excellent win built on a fine defensive display which was highlighted by only conceding 2 exclusion fouls.

Scorers: Joel Abbott 4, Paul Phillpott 4, Richard Hooper 4, Elan Stark 1, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Exclusions: Paul Phillpott 2.

Match 3.

Sunday October 11th, 11.10

Worthing 20, Otter 1869 4. (Quarter Scores: 4-1, 6-1, 4-1, 6-1)

This was by far our best performance so far in the National league and we dominated a team whose previous results indicated that we would be in for a tough encounter.

Playing again with a highly technical zone defence, we completely disrupted Otter's attacking game and limited them to mainly speculative shots from distance.

In attack we played some excellent water polo and we scored goals from all areas but Paul Phillpott and Joel Abbott were particularly productive alternating in the centre forward position.

Our defensive game plan worked so well that we almost went for half the match without conceding a goal. Only a defensive slip with 7 seconds remaining gifted Otter a very late consolation goal but overall we had played an excellent game.

Our overall dominance was also highlighted by the exclusion count with Otter committing 11 offences while we only conceded 3.

Scorers: Joel Abbott 5, Paul Phillpott 5, Elan Stark 4, Richard Hooper 2, Nathan Hart 2, Sam Abbott 1, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Exclusions: Richard Hooper 2, Joel Abbott 1.

Two national league weekends played and I think all the squad and the many supporters now feel that we are becoming established as a team to be taken seriously. All the squad work hard for each other and the tactics that we employed so successfully for most of the weekend rely on a huge amount of teamwork. We know that we still need to improve but we have made progress since the first weekend and I am sure that the team will be even more competitive at the future weekends.

Finally, all the squad and our supporters are thoroughly enjoying the national league experience. We had an excellent evening out together on the Saturday evening and and we are grateful for all the support and encouragement that the club, along with a number of individuals have given us to make our participation possible.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

4/10/2009

Sussex County Senior League.

Wednesday 30th September 2009

Crawley 12, Worthing 17.

Quarter Scores: 5-5, 0-5, 2-2, 5-5.

This was a workmanlike win against a much improved Crawley team in a match played at the excellent all deep K2 facility.

With Crawley now able to include a number of talented players this was always going to be a difficult match but the Worthing team always had the game under control.

After a level first quarter we took control in the second period and Crawley never looked likely to overhaul our advantage in the second half of the game.

All the squad of 12 played well and we scored a number of good quality goals. Defensively we weren't quite as effective as we normally are but we still frustrated the opposition for long periods.

Scorers: Paul Phillpott 8, Richard Hooper 5, Ziggy Tate 2, Sam Abbott 1, Dominic Cranford 1.

Exclusions: Dominic Cranford 2, Andy Cawdery 1, Paul Phillpott 1.

Remaining squad: Jon Gray, Tony Gray, Rob Osborne, Adrian Irbe, Alexander Cranford, Alastair Roberts.

Regards,

Alastair

Match Review

21/9/2009

Sussex County Senior League.

Wednesday 16th September 2009

Worthing 13, Brighton 7. (Quarter Scores: 2-0, 4-3, 3-1, 4-3)

This was a satisfactory win against a much improved Brighton senior team who are well organized defensively and they always made it difficult for us to play our normal attacking game.

We did, however, manage to play a good standard of water polo at times and we were worthy winners at the end.

All of the squad enjoyed a good amount of water time and first choice goal-keeper enjoyed his 4th quarter foray as an outfield player. He managed to score a goal and get himself excluded during his short cameo appearance!

Scorers: Richard Hooper 4, Paul Phillpott 3, Nathan Hart 2, Alastair Hardinge 2, Tim Brazier 1, Ben Alcorn 1.

Exclusions: Ben Alcorn 1, Sam Abbott 1, Dominic Cranford 1.

Squad in full: Ben Alcorn, Jon Gray, Richard Hooper, Rob Osborne, Sam Abbott, Dominic Cranford, Tim Brazier, Nathan Hart, Paul Phillpott & Alastair Hardinge.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

20/9/2009

This is a report of the latest London league event.

Sunday 13th September.

London League Under 15 Competition (Boys and girls born 1995 + younger)

Whitgift School, South Croydon.

Our young team traveled to the final tournament at the deep water pool at Whitgift school knowing that they faced two tough matches.

The reports are as follows:

Match 1.

Worthing 10, Sevenoaks 1.

This was a good win against an inexperienced opposition who struggled to deal with our attacking play.

We dominated throughout and scored a number of good goals with 5 of our squad finding the back of the net.

Scorers: Olly Rainford 3, Ben Goddard 3, Joe Hazeldine 2, Laura Joseph 1, Karen Chan 1.

Exclusions: None.

Match 2.

Worthing 3, Hythe 4.

This was an exciting match to finish our program in this summers championship and with a little more luck we could have won.

The lead changed hands on several occasions and we played our part in an exciting match that we were a little unfortunate not to take something from.

Scorers: Joe Hazeldine 1, Laura Joseph 1, Olly Rainford 1.

Exclusion: Karen Chan 1.

Squad in full: Sam Wildman, Henry Jackson, Callum Craven, Olly Rainford, Laura Joseph, Tara Osborne, Karen Chan, Joe Hazeldine & Ben Goddard,

This was a satisfactory end to our participation in this championship and all the squad continue to improve as a result of playing more competitive matches.

We hope that the team will continue to make progress when the Winter league program commences later in the year.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

15/9/2009

This is the report of the third match played at our historic first weekend in the national league.

National League Division 4.

Ponds Forge, Sheffield. 13th September 2009. 17.15 Start.

Worthing 11, Carlisle 14. (Quarter scores, 2-3, 2-5, 2-4, 5-2)

A slightly disappointing end to the weekend saw a tired performance from the Worthing team which resulted in another close defeat.

Carlisle are a strong team who combine a number of talented junior players along with some senior players who have gained experience with Lancaster who are currently the National League 1st division champions.

We knew that this would be a difficult match but we still felt that if we played to our full potential we would have a reasonable chance of a victory.

Unfortunately we never quite found the level of performance that we needed and we again missed too many chances that we would normally hope to score from. That said, the Carlisle goalkeeper produced a number of outstanding saves, often at key moments in the match.

Defensively we gave away a number of goals that we would not normally expect to concede but we improved when we changed from a zone to a man for man "press."

Scorers: Richard Hooper 7, Paul Phillpott 2, Nathan Hart 1, Joel Abbott 1.

Exclusions: Sam Abbott 1, Nathan Hart 1, Joel Abbott 1, Paul Phillpott 1.

Squad in full: Gregg Candy-Wallace, Richard Hooper, Sam Abbott, Dominic Cranford, Nathan Hart, Joel Abbott, Paul Phillpott, Alastair Hardinge, Alastair Roberts.

Coach: Ben Alcorn.

Overall this was an exciting first weekend when we could possibly have won, lost or drawn all 3 matches. We have proved that we are competitive at this level but we will need to improve in various areas of play if we are to win more matches.

We were very pleased with how well the squad behaved both in and out of the water and we were pleased that so many friends and family made the long journey north to support the team.

We are already looking forward to the next tournament which is at Walsall on the weekend of 10/11th October. We again face a busy three match program with fixtures against The RAF, City of Cambridge and London based Otter 1869.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

14/9/2009

Hi to you all from Pond's Forge, Sheffield.

This is the first ever report of our participation in the UK men's national water polo league.

Having made the decision to enter at the start of the year, we were pleased to see that the first venue we would play our division 4 fixtures at was the outstanding venue within the UK.

Ponds Forge is a fantastic complex with the 50 metre deep water pool the outstanding attraction.

At the first weekend the draw gave us fixtures against the other two new teams in the league (Carlisle and Exeter) as well as the Manchester second team that includes mainly talented junior players.

The results (so far) are as follows:

Saturday 12th September, 16.15 Start.

Worthing 14, Exeter 17 (Quarter Scores 1-2, 2-5, 5-5, 6-5)

A highly entertaining and exciting debut match that saw our inexperienced team play some good water polo before eventually losing out to a quality opposition.

Exeter include a number of players who have played at this level for several years and our defensive tactics frustrated them for long periods of the match.

If anything, it was our inability to take several of the clear opportunities that we created that probably cost us the chance of a victory.

We were always competitive and the team could be proud to have put on such a good display against one of the obvious favorites for the divisional title.

For the record, Richard Hooper became the first player to score for Worthing in the national league with a well taken goal after 6 minutes 48 seconds of the first period. Unfortunately, by then we had already missed several chances that probably highlighted the reason we eventually lost this match.

Ultimately, a match that highlighted the reasons that we took the decision to play in this competition. Outstanding facilities, first class refereeing and "proper" table officiating.

Scorers: Paul Phillpott 6, Richard Hooper 4, Sam Abbott 2, Nathan Hart 1, Joel Abbott 1 (penalty).

Exclusions: Nathan Hart 3, Paul Phillpott 2, Gregg Candy-Wallace 1, Richard Hooper 1, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Sunday 13th September, 11.00 Start.

Worthing 13, Manchester Hawks 11. (Quarter Scores 6-3, 0-3, 3-3, 4-2)

Our first win was secured with a less than satisfactory performance against a young but talented opposition.

Once again we were unable to take many of the chances that we created and a poor defensive display in the second quarter was particularly disappointing.

We started the final period with a comfortable 2 goal advantage but two poor pieces of defending saw the opposition draw level with 2 minutes 30 left in the game.

Fortunately we scored twice quickly to secure the win but all the team realized that we would need to play better in the final match of the weekend against Carlisle.

Scorers: Richard Hooper 3, Paul Phillpott 3, Sam Abbott 2, Dominic Cranford 2, Nathan Hart 2, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Exclusions: Joel Abbott 3, Richard Hooper 1, Sam Abbott 1, Dominic Cranford 1, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Squad in full: Gregg Candy-Wallace, Richard Hooper, Sam Abbott, Dominic Cranford, Nathan Hart, Joel Abbott, Paul Phillpott, Alastair Hardinge, Alastair Roberts.

Coach: Ben Alcorn.

I will forward the report of the final match of the weekend tomorrow.

Regards,

Alastair.

* Water Polo - sponsored 'Channel' Swim Report *

posted on 6 September 2009

Junior Boys Inter-Regional Championships 2009.

Walsall Gala Baths, 5/6 September.

After a break of a few years the ASA decided to re-introduce an inter-regional championship for the junior age group (boys born 1991 and younger).

The Worthing junior team has dominated competitions within London and the south-east at this age group for the past few years and 7 of our players were selected in a squad of 12 that represented the region.

Congratulations should go to Sam Abbott, Joel Abbott, Dominic Cranford, Alastair Hardinge, Scott Martin, Robert Osborne and Ziggy Tate who all played a significant part in an exciting tournament.

The south-east eventually finished as runners-up to a very strong north-west team but they played some excellent water polo through-out.

On the Saturday the team started with a satisfactory win against the east-midlands before losing by the narrowest of margins to Scotland.

Sunday saw the team play well against the north-west but missing too many chances cost them the chance of victory. In the final match the boys managed to turn the tables on Scots to win by a single goal margin which secured the runners-up position.

Joel Abbott was joint top goal scorer in the competition which is a remarkable achievement for a player who has only just started concentrating on playing outfield rather than his original position in goal.

To finish as runners-up in this competition is a good result for the region and the selection of 7 Worthing players is a remarkable achievement for the club.

The team was coached by Paul Phillpott, also of Worthing SC, who worked hard with the squad at various sessions in the build up to the competition.

If you should require any further information please feel free to contact me.

Regards,

Alastair Roberts.

07770 916721 (M)

* Water Polo - sponsored 'Channel' Swim Report *

posted on 18 July 2009

Wednesday 15th July.

Aquarena, Worthing.

Worthing Water Polo held a sponsored 'channel' swim to raise funds for their National League inaugural year and for Cancer Research UK. Please click here for details. Click here for Photos.

Match Review

11/7/2009

The busy year for the water polo teams has continued this week with two senior fixtures.

Tuesday 7th July.

Senior Friendly Match.

HMS Temerera, Portsmouth.

Royal Navy 5, Worthing 16. (Quarter scores: 1-4, 1-6, 1-2, 2-4)

Having played on the Sunday in the Army tournament at Aldershot, we continued our busy period with a match against the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.

Both services are working towards the inter-services Championship which is being played this weekend and we are always happy to help with both teams build up to this competition.

The match with the Navy was an excellent encounter and we played some good quality water polo in securing the victory.

Strong defending was the basis of the win and we always looked dangerous in attack. Paul Phillpott had a fine game playing at centre forward scoring 7 goals but the team played well to create the chances.

Overall we were pleased with the performance which again indicated the high standard of water polo that this squad is capable of producing.

Scorers: Paul Phillpott 7, Scott Martin 3, Stuart Stirling 2, Sam Abbott 2, Jon Gray 1, Ziggy Tate 1.

Exclusions: Stuart Stirling 2, Scott Martin 1, Ben Alcorn 1.

Squad in Full: Ben Alcorn (G/K), Jon Gray, Alastair Hardinge, Andy Cawdery, Tim Brazier, Sam Abbott, Adrian Irbe, Scott Martin, Ziggy Tate, Stuart Stirling, Paul Phillpott, Nathan Hart.

Thursday 9th July.

Sussex Senior League.

Summerfield's Pool, Hastings.

Hastings 2, Worthing 15. (Quarter scores: 1-3, 0-2, 1-7, 0-3)

Two days after the trip to Portsmouth we made the long journey east for the annual encounter with Hastings.

As always, the match was played in the shallow, narrow and dimly lit Summerfield's pool which is not exactly ideal for water polo.

We coped well in the circumstances and occasionally managed to put together some moves of real quality. Paul Phillpott and Richard Hooper shared the centre forward role and caused the opposition all sorts of problems.

The goals were shared between 7 of our squad of 9 and it was nice to see Adrian Irbe score twice and regular goal-keeper Ben Alcorn also on the score sheet.

Scorers: Richard Hooper 5, Paul Phillpott 3, Adrian Irbe 2, Sam Abbott 2, Ben Alcorn 1, Tim Brazier 1, Nathan Hart 1.

Exclusions: Alastair Hardinge 1.

Squad in Full: Ben Alcorn, Paul Phillpott, Andy Cawdery, Richard Hooper, Tim Brazier, Alastair Hardinge, Adrian Irbe, Sam Abbott, Nathan Hart.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

5/7/2009

A very busy week for the various water polo teams.

Reports as follows:

1.Senior Friendly Match.

Wednesday 1st July.

Sevenoaks 5, Worthing 12.

This was a satisfactory win for our senior team at Kent league side Sevenoaks.

We played well and controlled the game throughout and the final score was a fair reflection of the teams dominance.

Scorers: Richard Hooper 6, Sam Abbott 4, Ben Alcorn 1, Dominic Cranford 1.

Exclusions: None.

Squad in Full: As Above + Jon Gray, Andy Cawdrey, Rob Osborne, Tony Gray, Paul Phillpott.

2. British Army Senior Tournament.

Aldershot, Sunday 5th July.

We travelled to the excellent 50 metre pool at Aldershot for the annual tournament to defend the title that we had won 12 months ago.

We were pleased to take a full squad of 13 to this event to play 2 full 4 quarter matches in a full size deep water pool.

Match 1, Worthing 17, British Army 6

Quarter Scores: 4-1, 5-2, 4-0, 4-3.

This match was a competitive affair against an Army team who are currently missing a number of players who are deployed in Afghanistan.

We played some good water polo but our man-up opportunities were poorly executed and we missed a number of chances that we probably should have scored from.

All of the squad enjoyed a good amount of water time and Alastair Hardinge was unlucky to be excluded in the third quarter.

Scorers: Scott Martin 6, Ziggy Tate 4, Joel Abbott 2, Richard Hooper 2, Sam Abbott 1, Stuart Stirling 1, Matt White 1.

Exclusions: Alastair Hardinge 3, Tony Gray 1, Rob Osborne 1, Scott Martin 1.

Match 2, Worthing 14, Swindon 11.

Quarter Scores: 3-2, 2-2, 3-3, 6-4.

An exciting match against a well organized and strong opposition who will play in Division 3 of the National League later this year.

We always led but Swindon did draw level at the start of the 4th Quarter. A couple of quick goals, including a rare backhand shot by Stuart Stirling from the centre forward position, settled the nerves.

At times we again played some good water polo but as in the previous match our extra man plays were poor.

That said, we did enough to win what was a very hard fought victory which secured the overall title.

Scorers: Matt White 6, Scott Martin 3, Ziggy Tate 2, Richard Hooper 2, Stuart Stirling 1.

Exclusions: Andy Cawdery 2, Adrian Irbe 2, Tony Gray 1, Joel Abbott 1, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Squad in Full at the Army: Ben Alcorn (G/K), Ziggy Tate, Scott Martin, Stuart Stirling, Joel Abbott, Sam Abbott, Richard Hooper, Tony Gray, Adrian Irbe, Matt White, Andy Cawdery, Rob Osborne, Alastair Hardinge.

3. London Junior League (1991 + Younger)

Play-off Final, Whitgift School, South Croydon.

Sunday 5th July.

Worthing 23, Croydon Amphibians 8.

Quarter Scores: 4-1, 4-1, 8-4, 7-2.

The final of this years Junior London league looked like being a tough affair against our long time rivals in their home pool. Add to this that 6 of our squad of 10 had already played earlier in the day at Aldershot in the Army tournament and we were expecting a tough battle to win the title.

An outstanding first quarter saw the team take control and after this period we were always in command.

Croydon didn't help themselves with one of their best players being excluded before the end of the first quarter and as a result we were able to dictate the play for long periods.

Our attacking play always caused the opposition problems and we scored a number of fine goals.

The win secured the London Junior league for the second year running and this event is really the unofficial Championship for teams from all parts of London and the South-east. The club should be very proud of this group of boys who have worked hard and developed together over the past few years and have become a formidable team.

Scorers: Scott Martin 9, Joel Abbott 5, Sam Abbott 4, Stuart Stirling 2, Tim Brazier 1, Kevin Chan 1, Dominic Cranford 1.

Exclusions: Alastair Hardinge 2, Rob Osborne 1.

Squad in Full: Alexander Cranford (G/K), Scott Martin, Joel Abbott, Sam Abbott, Alastair Hardinge, Dominic Cranford, Stuart Stirling, Rob Osborne, Kevin Chan, Tim Brazier.

The season continues this coming week with a fixture away at the Royal Navy in Portsmouth and a county league game at Hastings.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

29/6/2009

We have played 2 Sussex Senior League fixtures in the past week as follows:

Wednesday 24th June.

Worthing 18, Crawley 4. (Quarter Scores: 7-0, 5-2, 3-1, 3-1)

This was a comprehensive win against an improving Crawley team who were unfortunately missing a couple of their influential players.

The Worthing team made a particularly strong start in the first period and this has not always been the case in recent matches. Leading 7-0 at the first break really ended the game as a contest but Crawley kept going and never made it easy for us.

Our all-round play was of good quality and we defended particularly well employing a zone defence to frustrate the opposition for long periods. The few chances that they created were dealt with by goal-keeper Ben Alcorn and on several occasions his passing led to quick counter-attacks.

Overall this was a satisfactory win and our mixture of youth and experience with 8 junior players in the squad of 13 proved far too strong for Crawley.

Scorers: Richard Hooper 4, Scott Martin 3, Ziggy Tate 3, Paul Phillpott 3, Sam Abbott 2, Alexander Cranford 1, Nathan Hart 1, Ben Alcorn 1.

Exclusions: Andy Cawdrey 1, Dominic Cranford 1, Ziggy Tate 1.

Remaining Squad Members: Jon Gray, Rob Osborne, Stuart Stirling.

Friday 26th June.

Brighton 5, Worthing 14. (Quarter Scores: 3-2, 5-0, 3-1, 3-2)

The second win of the week was secured against a much improved Brighton team at the Prince Regent pool.

This is not an easy venue to play at being much smaller and most significantly more shallow than our home pool. This makes for a more physical match but we coped well and played some good water polo on the way to securing the victory.

Having taken a quick 2 goal lead, we contrived to give away 2 goals but this was the last time the match was level. The second quarter saw a particularly dominant display and with a 8-2 lead at half-time we could afford to relax and play out the remainder of the game.

Scorers: Richard Hooper 5, Paul Phillpott 5, Scott Martin 2, Ziggy Tate 2.

Exclusions: Anthony Gray 3, Scott Martin 1, Andy Cawdrey, Stuart Stirling 1, Paul Phillpott 1.

Remaining Squad Members: Rob Osborne, Sam Abbott, Dominic Cranford, Alexander Cranford, Nathan Hart, Ben Alcorn.

This was a satisfactory week for our senior team who will be busy again this coming week with fixtures away at Sevenoaks and the annual tournament at the Army in Aldershot on Sunday.

Regards,

Alastair.

* Water Polo - sponsored 'Channel' swim *

posted on 25 June 2009

Worthing Water Polo are holding a sponsored 'channel' swim to raise funds for their National League inaugural year and for Cancer Research UK. Please click here for flyer.

Match Review

21/6/2009

London League Under 15 (Mixed) Championship.

Tournament 3.

Whitgift School, South Croydon.

Sunday 21st June 2009.

We travelled to the third event of this summers championship having played really well at the last event when our young team had begun to show a great deal of improvement.

We were due to play 3 matches at this tournament but the late withdrawal of West London Penguin meant that we had to play 2 longer games against Sevenoaks and Watford.

These are the individual reports:

Match 1.

Worthing 14, Sevenoaks 0. (H/T 8-0)

This was a fine performance against a young but spirited opposition who always made things difficult for us.

The Worthing youngsters once again showed that they are beginning to progress both individually and collectively and it was pleasing to see that the passing and game awareness are now of a much higher standard.

The team defended well and the opposition only created a small number of chances.

It was the speed of our counter attacking that was the real difference between the teams and we scored a number of goals as a result of quickly turning defence into attack.

Scorers: Karen Chan 4, Laura Joseph 4, Ben Goddard 2, Joe Hazeldine 2, Charlie Jones 1, Olly Rainford 1.

Exclusion: Charlie Jones.

Match 2.

Worthing 1, Watford 6. (H/T 1-0)

A really strange match that saw us dominate the start of the game taking the lead through an excellent finish from Laura. We missed several other chances as we continued to dominate proceedings in the first half and perhaps this was the turning point of the game.

In the second half we started to make too many basic errors and we were particularly guilty in giving away possession too easily on many occasions.

The poor second period might have been explained by an element of tiredness creeping in but the final score really does not give a real indication of the closeness of the match.

Although we were disappointed with the final result the team had played well in the first half and can take a great deal of satisfaction for how they competed against an older and more physical opposition.

Scorer: Laura Joseph

Exclusion: Joe Hazeldine.

Squad in Full: Sam Wildman, Laura Joseph, Karen Chan, Tara Osborne, Joe Hazeldine, Olly Rainford, Henry Jackson, Ben Goddard, Callum Craven, Charlie Jones.

Overall, this was an encouraging event for our development squad who are beginning to make good progress.

The team continues to improve and we are looking forward to the final event which is due to be played on September 13th.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

13/6/2009

Ladies London League. Division 2.

Tournament 3, Whitgift School, Croydon.

Sunday 7th June 2009.

The final tournament of the 2009 Ladies London League took us back to the excellent deep water pool at Whitgift school in Croydon.

The event had the making of an exciting affair with our new combined Worthing/Basingstoke team level on points at the top of table with Beckenham ladies.

As a result the key fixture looked to be the first match of the days program with the winner looking likely to take the overall title.

Unfortunately our squad was missing Chrissy Pilcher who was unavailable because of illness and Becky Anderson who was away at Loughborough University studying for exams.

These are the individual match reports.

Match 1. Worthing/Basingstoke 7, Beckenham 1. (H/T 2-1)

A match that will be remembered unfortunately for the idiosyncratic officiating which spoilt what should have been an exciting encounter.

Our girls were worthy winners and were always in control but the final score did not reflect the closeness of the match. Certain key decisions went our way and we scored a number of goals as a result.

Our defending was always of a high quality and because of this we always looked the more likely team to win the match.

Scorers: Jenny Willett 3, Mel Hart 3, Kelli Bird 1.

Exclusions: Emily Griffiths 1, Stacy Darbyshire 1.

Match 2. Worthing/Basingstoke 10, Oxford 1. (H/T 3-0)

A satisfactory win for the team when swimming speed and fitness were the key.

A number of our goals were scored as a result of simple turnovers and the opposition had no answer to our counter-attacking.

Defensively we played well again and goalkeeper Kayley Alcorn dealt well with a small number of speculative shots.

Scorers: Hannah Chilton 4, Mel Hart 3, Jenny Willett 2, Kelli Bird 1.

Exclusions: Emily Griffiths 2, Hannah Chilton 1.

Match 3. Worthing/Basingstoke 7, Penguin III 5. (H/T 3-2)

The final score indicates a close result but we were always in control of this match against a physical opposition.

Once again it was the speed of our counter-attacking that did the damage and Penguin constantly struggled to deal with this aspect of our play.

Both teams looked tired playing their 3rd game of the day and this probably explains the high number of exclusions committed.

Scorers: Jenny Willett 4, Mel Hart 2, Hannah Chilton 1.

Exclusions: Emily Griffiths 3, Claire Liggins 1, Amy Stringer 1, Mel Hart 1, Kelli Bird 1.

Squad in Full: Kayley Alcorn (G/K), Jenny Willett, Emily Griffiths, Claire Liggins, Stacy Darbyshire, Hannah Chilton, Amy Stringer, Mel Hart, Kelli Bird.

The 3 wins secured the Division 2 title and Jenny Willett was presented with the trophy after the final match.

This was an excellent result for this new combined team at it was particularly good to see how well the girls form both clubs worked together.

The girls were delighted with the win and I hope that we will defend this title in next years competition.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

6/6/2009

Sussex Senior Knock-out.

Wednesday 3rd June 2009

Worthing 13, Brighton 5 (+ 6 Handicap) 11 . (Quarter Scores: 2-3, 2-0, 4-2, 5-0)

This was an exciting match against a much improved and spirited Brighton team who played their part in an entertaining fixture.

With a handicap of 6 goals to overcome this always looked to be a difficult fixture and this certainly proved to be the case.

We made a slow start failing to employ the desired tactics and as a result at the end of the first period we trailed 2-3 which was an overall deficit of 2-9.

From this point our play began to improve but we were still guilty of missing far too many simple opportunities which kept score closer than it might have been.

Going into the final period we still trailed 5-8 but a strong finish saw us take a 2 goal lead with just over 2 minutes left to play. As a result we ran the clock down successfully to record a narrow victory.

Ben Alcorn had a fine game in goal including a spectacular penalty save and it was pleasing to see that our squad of 12 included 6 junior players.

The team realized that they had under-performed but credit must go to Brighton who played well for long periods of the match.

Scorers: Richard Hooper 4, Paul Phillpott 4, Scott Martin 3, Nathan Hart 1.

Exclusions: Paul Phillpott 2, Richard Hooper 1, Sam Abbott 1, Dominic Cranford 1, Stuart Stirling 1.

Squad in Full: Ben Alcorn (G/K), Jon Gray, Anthony Gray, Richard Hooper, Rob Osborne, Sam Abbott, Dominic Cranford, Scott Martin, Stuart Stirling, Alexander Cranford, Paul Phillpott & Nathan Hart.

Kind regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

18/5/2009

London League Ladies Division 2.

Tournament 2.

Whitgift School, Croydon.

Sunday 17th May 2009.

We were looking forward to the second event of this years Ladies championship having won 2 matches and suffered a very close defeat at the first tournament.

Once again we played a combined team with players from Basingstoke and it was interesting to see that the team is beginning to play a better standard of water polo as the girls get used to each others style of play.

The fixtures were a repeat of the first tournament and we were particularly looking forward to the return match against Beckenham who had beaten us by the narrowest margin 2 weeks previously.

These are the individual match reports:

Match 1.

Worthing/Basingstoke 4, Beckenham 3. (H/T 2-1)

This was another excellent match against a quality opposition who played their part in an exciting fixture.

We were always the dominant team and our defending was of a particularly high standard switching at times to a zone defence to deal with Beckenham's strong centre forward play.

It was the young Beckenham keeper who made a number of fine saves that meant that the winning margin was closer than it probably should have been.

Overall we were worthy winners and it was fair reward for an excellent all-round display.

Scorers: Jenny Willett 2, Mel Hart 1, Kelli Bird 1.

Exclusions: None.

Match 2.

Worthing/Basingstoke 10, Oxford 1. (H/T 4-1)

Another good performance when we recovered from falling behind to an early goal before taking control of the match.

It was particularly pleasing that 8 out our 9 outfield players scored in this match which was testament to our all round team play.

All the squad played well and the small number of chances created by the opposition were well dealt with by Kayley Alcorn in goal.

Scorers: Rebecca Anderson 2, Kelli Bird 2, Jenny Willett 1, Mel Hart 1, Amy Stringer 1, Hannah Chilton 1, Chrissy Pilcher 1, Stacy Darbyshire 1.

Exclusions: Hannah Chilton 1, Rebecca Anderson 1, Stacy Darbyshire 1.

Match 3.

Worthing/Basingstoke 9, Penguin III 2. (H/T 5-2)

A good win in the final match against an improved Penguin team who are a strong and physical opposition.

Our fitness and swimming speed always caused the opposition problems and our goals were this time shared by 7 players.

The match highlighted the improvement in our overall team play and the squad continues to play a good standard of water polo.

Scorers: Rebecca Anderson 2, Kelli Bird 2, Jenny Willett 1, Mel Hart 1, Amy Stringer 1, Hannah Chilton 1, Chrissy Pilcher 1.

Exclusions: Stacy Darbyshire 1.

Squad in Full: Kayley Alcorn (G/K), Rebecca Anderson, Kelli Bird, Jenny Willett, Mel Hart, Amy Stringer, Hannah Chilton, Chrissy Pilcher, Stacy Darbyshire, Debby Willett.

This was another good event for our new combined team and we have given ourselves a good chance of taking the overall Division 2 title at the final event in June.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

12/5/2009

London League Under 15 Championship (1995 + Younger)

Tournament 1.

Whitgift School, South Croydon.

Sunday 10th May 2009.

Having entered the Winter league with our young team we decided to enter this competition to play some more matches and gain some valuable experience.

The competition has been well supported with 8 teams from around London and South-east region entering which will give us the opportunity to see how are team is progressing.

At this first event we were due to play 4 matches and these are the individual reports.

Match 1.

Worthing 3, Hythe 0. (H/T 3-0)

This was a good win against a team that we hadn't played before.

We were quickly on top and we scored 3 good goals in the first half and we defended well, limiting the opposition to a small number of chances.

The second half was a preview of what was to happen in the remaining matches with the Worthing team creating but failing to take chances. In this game this was not of great significance but against stronger opposition it proved to be very costly.

Scorers: Joe Hazeldine 2, Karen Chan 1.

Exclusions: None

Match 2.

Worthing 3, Croydon Amphibians 4. (H/T 1-1)

Although it was disappointing to lose this match by the narrowest margin the level of the teams performance showed a great deal of improvement.

We were desperately unlucky with several attempts on goal and a draw would probably have been a fair result. Sam and Charlie scored good goals and Tara converted a penalty, but we missed a few chances that we really should have taken.

A couple of simple individual errors resulted in the team conceding goals that really should have been avoided.

Ultimately this was a match that we might have taken something from but it did indicate that the team is making good progress.

Scorers: Sam Wildman 1, Charlie Jones 1, Tara Osborne 1.

Exclusions: Ollly Rainford 1, Joe Hazeldine 1.

Match 3.

Worthing 2, Sutton & Cheam 5. (H/T 0-4)

The opposition in this match are a talented team and we competed well, particularly in the second half.

It was a number of simple mistakes that cost us goals but in the second-half we made a significant improvement and we might have scored more goals.

Again, this match indicated that progress is being made and the team is beginning to play a better standard of water polo.

Scorers: Sam Wildman 2.

Exclusion: Olly Rainford 1.

Match 4.

Worthing 2, Basingstoke 3. (H/T 1-1)

It was disappointing to lose the final match against a strong and physical opposition but if we had taken our chances we could have recorded a win.

Particularly in the first-half we kept creating goal-scoring opportunities but a combination of poor shooting and good goal-keeping meant we only scored once though an excellent finish from Laura.

The second-half took the same course and we were left to reflect on what might have been.

Scorers: Laura Joseph 1, Sam Wildman 1.

Exclusions: None.

Squad in Full: Olly Rainford, Henry Jackson, Ben Goddard, Tara Osborne, Laura Joseph, Karen Chan, Joe Hazeldine, Sam Wildman & Charlie Jones.

Although we lost 3 matches with only the 1 win, 2 of the defeats were by the odd goal and we can be pleased with the progress that we have made.

The team is much more competitive now and I am sure that we will benefit form the experience of playing these matches.

We return to Whitgift on June 21st for the next tournament and hopefully we will see further improvement.

Regards,

Alastair

Match Review

4/5/2009

London League Ladies Championship

Division 2.

Tournament 1, Whitgift School, South Croydon.

Sunday 3rd May 2009.

The first tournament of the 2009 Ladies London league was played at the excellent 25 metre deep water pool at Whitgift School in South Croydon.

For this years event the Worthing girls have combined with members of Basingstoke to ensure that we could enter a team. Basingstoke now include one time Worthing member Hannah Chilton and a number of the other girls know each other well.

The individual match reports are as follows:

Basingstoke/Worthing 4, Beckenham 5. (Half-time 2-2)

An excellent match that was enjoyed by the players form both teams.

The lead continually changed hands and we were a little unlucky not to at least secure a draw at the end of such a close encounter.

Our tactics were mainly successful in dealing with the opposition centre-forward and it was a couple of unfortunate unforced errors that ultimately was the difference between the teams.

All the squad played well and on another day the result could have gone in our favour.

Scorers: Mel Hart 2, Jenny Willett 2

Exclusions: Mel Hart 1, Jenny Willett 1.

Basingstoke/Worthing 5, Oxford 1. (Half-time 4-0)

A good performance against a hard-working opposition but the margin of victory really should have been greater.

We always controlled the match and a change to a "full-press" defence limited the opposition to a small number of scoring opportunities.

Our finishing was wasteful and we missed far too many simple chances that we really should have been expected to score, but the final result was really never in doubt.

Scorers: Jenny Willett 3, Hannah Chilton 2.

Exclusions: Hannah Chilton 1, Clare Liggins 1, Stacy Darbyshire 1.

Basingstoke/Worthing 9, Penguin III 1. (Half-time 4-0)

A workmanlike performance against a physical opposition who never coped with our swimming speed and ability to counter attack.

Again we were guilty of missing far too many chances but the quality of our defending was again of a high standard and Penguin struggled to create many opportunities to test our goal-keeper.

Towards the end of the match we began to run out of energy but the final score was fair reflection of the difference between the 2 teams.

It was nice to see that 6 of the squad scored in this match indicating that we carry a threat from a number of our players.

Scorers: Mel Hart 2, Hannah Chilton 2, Clare Liggins 2, Jenny Willett 1, Amy Stringer 1, Chrissy Pilcher 1.

Exclusions: Jenny Willett 1.

Squad in Full: Kayley Alcorn (G/K), Jenny Willett, Mel Hart, Chrissy Pilcher, Kelli Bird, Hannah Chilton, Stacy Darbyshire, Amy Stringer, Clare Liggins.

Overall this was a excellent event for our new combined team and with a little bit more luck we might have won all three matches.

The fixtures repeat at the second tournament which is at the same venue in two weeks time.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

26/4/2009

London League Junior Boys (1991 + Younger) Championship.

Tournament 2.

Whitgift School, Croydon.

Sunday 26th April 2009.

This was another excellent tournament for our junior boys team who remain unbeaten in this years competition.

At this event we were missing 3 of our squad with Elliott Ellison ruled out because of exams and Stuart Stirling and Dominic Cranford unavailable because of work commitments.

We still took a strong squad of 9 players and the match reports are as follows:

Match 1.

Worthing 8, Croydon Amphibians 5.

Quarter Scores: 3-1, 1-0, 2-2, 2-2.

This was another match of high quality against our traditional rivals.

Both teams played some excellent water polo at times but we always controlled the game after a strong first quarter which saw Joel Abbott score 2 quick goals from the centre forward position.

Our defending was of a high standard and the zone defence that we employed forced the opposition into speculative shots from distance. A number of these were dealt with by Alexander Cranford in goal and he put in another fine performance.

In attack we always looked dangerous and it was only some wasteful finishing that kept us from recording a wider margin of victory.

Overall a good win that again highlighted the strength of our resources in this age group.

Scorers: Joel Abbott 3, Scott Martin 3, Sam Abbott 2.

Exclusions: Sam Abbott 1, Tim Brazier 1.

Match 2.

Worthing 14, Watford 1.

Quarter Scores: 3-0, 6-0, 2-0, 3-1.

After the excitement of the first match this was always going to be more low key affair against a spirited Watford team who continue to improve.

We always dominated proceedings and we played some excellent water polo at times and scored a number fine goals. Joel Abbott took over in goal from half-time and this gave Alexander Cranford a chance to play outfield.

Seven of our squad scored in this match which is an indication of the good all-round team play.

Scorers: Scott Martin 6, Sam Abbott 2, Joel Abbott 2, Rob Osborne 1, Ziggy Tate 1, Kevin Chan 1, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Exclusions: Rob Osborne 2.

Squad in full: Scott Martin, Sam Abbott, Joel Abbott, Rob Osborne, Ziggy Tate, Kevin Chan, Alastair Hardinge, Alexander Cranford & Tim Brazier.

This was another good event for our junior team and again indicates the progress that all of the squad are making.

Joel, Ziggy and Scott are playing next weekend in Portugal for the GB junior team and all three of them should be congratulated on this latest selection for the National team.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

6/4/2009

London Junior League (1991 + Younger)

Tournament 1.

Whitgift School, Croydon. 5th April 2009

The first event of this summers competition saw our junior boys team travel to Croydon to play two 4 quarter matches against Basingstoke and West London Penguin.

With the two matches to be played with no break between them we knew this would be a demanding program.

These are the individual reports:

Worthing 12, Basingstoke 4.

Quarter scores: 3-1, 3-2, 3-0, 3-1.

The final score indicates a fairly simple win but this does not tell the whole story of this match.

With 4 members of the squad of 10 delayed in traffic we had to start with one player short. This should give a significant advantage to the opposition but our 6 players produced some fine defending and scored on the break and we still led 6-3 at half-time when the rest of the team arrived.

The second-half was a more routine affair and we ran out comfortable winners.

Scorers: Scott Martin 5, Sam Abbott 2, Joel Abbott 2, Stuart Stirling 1, Dominic Cranford 1, Rob Osborne 1.

Exclusions: None.

Worthing 13, West London Penguin 1

Quarter scores: 3-1, 2-0, 4-0, 4-0.

This was a satisfactory win against a strong and physical opposition who always made it difficult for us.

Our play was of a high standard and at times we scored some excellent goals and it was particularly pleasing to see the number of unselfish passes that were made to players who were left with a simple finish.

Our defending was also of a high standard and Alexander Cranford made some good saves on the odd occasions he was called upon.

Joel Abbott scored 4 times but was also unlucky to be excluded in the final period after committing his 3rd exclusion foul.

Scorers: Joel Abbott 4, Scott Martin 4, Sam Abbott 2, Tim Brazier 1, Dominic Cranford 1, Stuart Stirling 1.

Exclusions: Joel Abbott 3, Dominic Cranford 1.

Squad in Full: Alexander Cranford (G/K), Tim Brazier, Sam Abbott, Joel Abbott, Scott Martin, Stuart Stirling, Rob Osborne, Dominic Cranford, Kevin Chan, Alastair Hardinge.

This was a satisfactory afternoon for the team which was missing Ziggy Tate and Elliott Ellison.

We hope that we will play as well at the next two tournaments which will decide this years championship.

Regards,

Alastair.

* Waterpolo News *

posted on 3 April 2009

Three of our boys; Joel Abbott, Scott Martin and Ziggy Tate, have been selected for the latest GB national squad.

Click here for details.

Regards
Alastair.

Match Review

23/3/2009

South-east Region Men's Championship.

Tournament 2, Jersey 21/22 March 2008.

Having won all our matches at the first tournament held at Basingstoke back in January, we travelled with a full squad of 13 for the second and deciding event of this year's championship.

I am pleased to report that we were successful and took the overall title after a hard weekend when we played 3 highly competitive matches.

The Jersey pool is a modern 25 meter 8 lane facility but unfortunately it suffers from having a very shallow end which always makes it very difficult to play a good standard of water polo.

These are the individual match reports:

Match 1, Worthing 13, Oxford 8

Quarter Scores: 5-3, 2-2, 6-1, 0-2

A satisfactory win in our first match against a well organized and physical opposition.

The third quarter saw the Worthing team take control of the match and although we conceded a couple of late goals in the final period, our win was well deserved.

All the squad played well and Scott Martin led the scorers with 5 goals.

Scorers: Scott Martin 5, Richard Hooper 3, Joel Abbott 2, Paul Phillpott 2, Sam Abbott 1.

Exclusions: Scott Martin 3, Jon Gray 1, Nathan Hart 1, Joel Abbott 1, Paul Phillpott 1.

Match 2, Worthing 8, Jersey 7.

Quarter Scores: 3-1, 3-0, 1-4, 1-2

A closer match than this should have been after we raced into a 6-1 lead at the mid-point.

The second half of the match saw a poorer performance which was not helped by the many substitutions that we made.

We were however always in control and only a very late goal from Jersey reduced the winning margin.

Scorers: Richard Hooper 2, Joel Abbott 2, Scott Martin 2, Paul Phillpott 1, Nathan Hart 1.

Exclusions: Stuart Stirling 1, Joel Abbott 1.

Match 3, Worthing 6, Southampton 7.

Quarter Scores: 0-1, 2-2, 2-2, 2-2

This was a disappointing end to the competition but all our previous wins meant that the result would not stop us from winning the overall title.

As we already knew this going into the match we decided to experiment with some different tactical plays which we had developed in the training session the previous day. This was mainly successful but we never played to our best and poor finishing really cost us any chance of a victory. All of the squad played for a good amount of time in the game but we did not quite produce our best form and we never quite did enough to secure a win.

Scorers: Richard Hooper 4, Stuart Stirling 1, Paul Phillpott 1.

Exclusions: Rob Osborne 1, Sam Abbott 1, Scott Martin 1, Stuart Stirling 1, Joel Abbott 1, Nathan Hart 1.

Squad in Full: Paul Phillpott, Richard Hooper, Nathan Hart, Jon Gray, Tony Gray, Ben Alcorn, Scott Martin, Rob Osborne, Joel Abbott, Sam Abbott, Stuart Stirling, Alastair Hardinge, Elliott Ellison.

We are delighted to have won the overall championship after two tough tournaments when we played, at times, some excellent water polo.

These matches will act as the start of our program that builds towards our debut in the National league later this year and we will be working hard to improve all aspects of our play up to this time.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

7/3/2009

London Winter League Tournament 3.

Under 15's (1995 + Younger)

Sunday 8th March 2009.

Whitgift School, South Croydon.

This was the last tournament of this season's Winter league program and we faced 3 demanding matches against the best teams in the competition.

We were missing Karen Chan and Joe Hazeldine who were swimming at the Sussex county championship event at K2 Crawley and so we were limited to a squad of 8 players.

The individual match reports are as follows:

Match 1: Worthing 1, Sutton & Cheam 4. (H/T 0-2)

Although we lost this opening match our young team showed a huge improvement from the previous tournaments and with better finishing the result would have been much closer.

All of the squad played well and the goalkeeping was shared between Sam Wildman and Henry Jackson.

Scorer: Sam Wildman.

Exclusions: None.

Match 2: Worthing 1, Beckenham 4. (H/T 0-4)

As in the first match, this performance indicated the progress that the team is now making with another good performance against probably the best team in the competition.

After a slightly disappointing 1st half, the team played their best water polo so far in the second period and dominated proceedings. Once again our finishing let us down and the final score didn't fairly illustrate the closeness of the match.

Scorer: Sam Wildman.

Exclusion: Tara Osborne.

Match 3: Worthing 2, Croydon Amphibians 5. (H/T 1-2)

Once again, a much improved performance.

This time we dominated the first half and really didn't deserve to be behind at the break. The second period saw the team begin to tire but they still remained competitive up to the final whistle.

Scorers: Laura Joseph, Sam Wildman.

Exclusions: Oliver Rainford, Ben Goddard.

Squad in Full: Oliver Rainford, Henry Jackson, Tara Osborne, Laura Joseph, Sam Wildman, Charlie Jones, Ben Goddard, Callum Craven.

Having entered this competition with a very young and inexperienced team it was obvious that we would be on a steep learning curve. We have seen a vast improvement over the three events and I am sure that this team will now improve quickly and we are particularly looking forward to the summer competition which will start in May.

All of the squad have the potential to be very good players and I am sure that all of them have benefitted greatly from the experience of playing in this competition.

Alastair Roberts.

Match Review

10/2/2009

1. Sussex Senior Cup (2008) Semi-Final

Friday 6th February 2009

Brighton 6, Worthing 13 (Quarter Scores 2-1, 5-1, 2-2, 4-2)

Very occasionally we play matches that will live long in the memory and this encounter at the Prince Regent pool will be one.

With idiosyncratic and inconsistent refereeing, table officiating that bordered on the comic, and with less than 10 days notice to play a match that should have been played before the end of September last year, this was a cracking night out!

Add to the mix a shallow end where players were often taking advantage of standing and it was always going to be an interesting affair.

The high level of excitement meant that the match passed in a flash (literally!) and the Worthing squad were surprised that we played to the pre 1980 format of 5 minute quarters rather than the more normal 8 that are played now.

But lets not be picky: we scored some excellent goals and frustrated the opposition with our clever zone defence for long periods.

A game that in less than 1 hour illustrated perfectly why we have decided to take the club into the National water polo league for the first time in our 119 year history!

Scorers: Scott Martin 4, Richard Hooper 3, Paul Phillpott 2, Ziggy Tate 2, Elliott Ellison 1, Dominic Cranford 1.

Exclusions: None!

Remaining Squad: Alastair Roberts (G/K), Jon Gray, Andy Cawdery, Alexander Cranford, Rob Osborne, Adrian Irbe.

2. Senior Friendly Match

Royal Navy vs Worthing

Saturday 7th February 2009

After the events of the Friday at Brighton we moved on to a friendly match against the Royal Navy at Portsmouth.

This was an excellent match played in good spirits by both teams and again we played some outstanding water polo.

No "official" score was kept but we were comfortable winners with our speed on the counter attack proving to be particularly effective.

Alexander Cranford was the youngest member of the squad who played in this fixture and he put in an excellent performance in goal again illustrating his undoubted potential.

Squad: Alexander Cranford (G/K), Scott Martin, Ziggy Tate, Dominic Cranford, Sam Abbott, Richard Hooper, Paul Phillpott, Andy Cawdery, Tony Gray, Adrian Irbe, Mel Hart.

3. Top Italian Coach at Worthing.

Wednesday 11th February 2009.

The current Italian Junior national squad coach Alberto Bertolotti is visiting the club this coming Wednesday when he will be taking our training session.

His visit has been partly funded by the Southeast region ASA and all of the squad are looking forward to experiencing a training session with one of the top coaches currently in the sport.

We will commence with a briefing at 19.45 before the pool time at 20.45.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

3/2/2009

London Winter League. (Under 14 Competition)

Tournament 2.

Watford Leisure Centre, Sunday 1st February 2009.

We took a very young team to this event which was played at the excellent new 8 lane all deep 25 metre pool at the Woodside Leisure Centre in Watford.

The results were slightly disappointing but the boys and girls who played improved with each match and all of the squad will have benefitted greatly from playing in this event.

The individual match scores were as follows:

Beckenham 8, Worthing 1.

Croydon Amphibians 3, Worthing 1.

Haywards Heath 2, Worthing 1.

Watford 4, Worthing 1.

Against Beckenham we made a slow start which was understandable because the team has not played competitively for quite a while, but in all of the other 3 games we played well and were slightly unlucky not to at least record one win.

All the squad enjoyed the experience and we will undoubtedly improve with this young team at forthcoming events

Squad in Full: Sam Wildman (G/K), Oliver Rainford, Ben Goddard, Karen Chan, Joe Hazeldine, Tara Osborne, Charlie Jones, Laura Joseph, Callum Craven.

We all struggled home as the snow started to fall but we look forward to the next tournament at the beginning of March.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

27/1/2009
This is a report of the first South-east region men's water polo tournament which was played over the weekend.

This is also mentioned on the BBC sports website.

Tournament 1: Basingstoke Aquadrome

24th/25th January 2009.

Match 1. (Saturday 24th, 13.00)

Worthing 25, Jersey 5.

Quarter Scores: 5-1, 7-1, 6-1, 3-2.

This was an excellent start to the weekend against a strong Jersey team who feature a number of players with National league experience.

We were quickly into our stride and we scored a number of excellent goals both as a result of turnovers and also from our powerful shooters on the arc positions.

Ben Alcorn played the first 3 quarters in goal and dealt with most of the opportunities that the opposition created. Joel Abbott took over in goal in the final period and was equally as impressive.

All of the squad played well and we made full use of our strong bench to make sure that everyone remained fresh for the second game.

Scorers: Scott Martin 8, Richard Hooper 6, Joel Abbott 5, Paul Phillpott 3, Ziggy Tate 2, Andy Cawdary 1.

Exclusions: Sam Abbott 1, Jon Gray 1, Scott Martin 1, Joel Abbott 1.

Match 2. (Saturday 24th, 16.45)

Worthing 14, Southampton 5.

Quarter Scores: 6-0, 3-2, 2-2, 3-1.

This match looked to be a much harder prosposition but we were well prepared and a fine first quarter was basis of our second victory.

We employed an excellent zone defence which stopped any service to the opposition centre forward and Ben again dealt well with a number of shots from distance.

A 9-2 lead at the mid-point resulted in a more defensive second half display but we always controlled the match and again this gave us the opportunity to utilise all our bench.

Scorers: Joel Abbott 4, Richard Hooper 3, Paul Phillpott 3, Scott Martin 2, Ziggy Tate 1, Nathan Hart 1.

Exclusions: Alastair Hardinge 1.

Match 3. (Sunday 25th 11.15)

Worthing 35, Cranleigh 5.

Quarter Scores: 13-1, 6-0, 6-1, 10-3.

A very one sided match against a spirited opposition who had no answer to our superior fitness and all round play.

We dominated form start to finish and we could have actually scored more goals with better finishing.

Junior Alexander Cranford played the second-half of the match in goal and made a number of fine saves and we played virtually all of the final quarter with a team made up entirely of juniors except with first choice goalkeeper Ben Alcorn outfield.

Scorers: Richard Hooper 9, Scott Martin 7, Alastair Hardinge 5, Sam Abbott 4, Joel Abbott 3, Ziggy Tate 3, Ben Alcorn 2, Paul Phillpott 1, Nathan Hart 1.

Exclusions: Jon Gray 1, Scott Martin 1, Joel Abbott 1, Nathan Hart 1.

Match 4. (Sunday 25th 15.00)

Worthing 22, City of Oxford 7.

Quarter Scores: 3-1, 7-1, 7-3, 5-2.

A fine performance against a talented and physical Oxford team.

We again employed the zone defence which stopped any service to the opposition centre forward and this forced them into taking speculative shots from distance.

Our speed on the counter-attack always caused Oxford problems and we scored a number of fine goals this way.

Once again all the squad played their part in a good team performance which was a good way to finish a busy weekend.

Scorers: Ziggy Tate 4, Richard Hooper 4, Scott Martin 4, Paul Phillpott 4, Joel Abbott 3, Alastair Hardinge 1, Sam Abbott 1, Nathan Hart 1.

Exclusions: Scott Martin 2, Alastair Hardinge 1, Richard Hooper 1, Jon Gray 1, Joel Abbott 1.

Squad in full: Ben Alcorn, Ziggy Tate, Scott Martin, Richard Hooper, Paul Phillpott, Jon Gray, Joel Abbott, Sam Abbott, Alastair Hardinge, Nathan Hart, Rob Osborne, Andy Cawdary (Saturday), Alexander Cranford (Sunday).

This was an excellent weekend for our senior men's team whicn now includes many memebers of our outstanding junior squad. Scott, Joel and Ziggy continue to be part of the GB national junior squad and Alastair Hardinge is making great progress now he is training at the national academy based in Grantham.

The second tournament is in Jersey at the end of March when we hope to remain unbeaten in this competition.

Regards,

Alastair.

Match Review

14/1/2009
home friendly match against Sevenoaks.

Worthing 22, Sevenoaks 7 (Quarter Scores: 4-2, 8-2, 6-1, 4-2)

This was a highly entertaining match that was played in good spirits by both teams.

We fell behind early on the match but we soon found our scoring touch and eventually ran out relatively easy winners.

All the squad played well but junior Alexander Cranford had a fine game in goal making a number of good saves.

It was nice to see 9 of our squad of 12 on the score sheet which demonstrated the depth we have available.

Scorers: Scott Martin 5, Richard Hooper 4, Paul Phillpott 4, Dominic Cranford 3, Sam Abbott 2, Elliott Ellison 1, Scott Orchard 1, Andy Cawdray 1, Nathan Hart 1.

Exclusions: Richard Hooper 1, Paul Phillpott 1

Remaining Squad: Alexander Cranford, Jon Gray, Rob Osborne,

The next competitive fixtures are Basingstoke in the SE regional tournament on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th January when we will be playing matches against Southampton, Oxford, Jersey and Cranleigh.

Regards,

Alastair.

* Waterpolo News *

posted on 18 January 2009

On Wednesday evening we played a home friendly match against Sevenoaks and before the match a presentation was made.

Peter "Budgie" Baxter was a hugely popular player and referee in Sussex for many years and unfortunately he passed away in 2007. His widow Fiona has presented a trophy in his memory to Sussex County which is awarded to the leading goalscorer in the County league competition.

The first winner for the 2008 season was Worthing member Matt White with an impressive 41 goals.

Unfortunately Matt left for Japan on Tuesday as part of his "gap year" but Fiona presented the trophy to his father Graham on the pool side at the Aquarena. click here for the photo album.

Regards
Alastair.

* Waterpolo News *

posted on 18 January 2009

This was a hugely significant week in the history of Worthing SC because I am pleased to say that our application to join the National Water Polo league for the 2009 season was accepted at the league's AGM in Birmingham last Sunday.

The competition will run from September to December and we will join in the 4th Division playing against teams from all over the UK.

The league is now played on a tournament basis at centralized venues around England and each team plays 3 matches at each weekend. This will involve nights away and a fair amount of traveling but we have decided to make this decision to take the club forward.

We have already started to look a program of innovative fundraising and sponsorship because this type of national competition is not cheap to participate in and we are determined to make the most of the opportunity.

The club has been involved with competitive water polo since it's inception in 1890 and were runners-up in the National cup competition in 1905 but this entry into the National league is a result of the development program of the past few years. We hope that many of the junior players, including those who are just starting out playing, will now have the opportunity to play in National competition for Worthing.

Regards
Alastair.

* Waterpolo News *

posted on 12 January 2009

A very short message to tell you that our junior boys (91 + younger) won the London Winter league on Sunday after an 11-7 win against Croydon Amphibians at Whitgift School.
This confirms Worthing as the best team in the age group in the Southeast and London area which is something that we should all be rightly proud of.
A full report will follow shortly.

Regards
Alastair.

Match Review

4/1/2009
London Winter League.
Junior Boys Competition (1991 + Younger)
Tournament 1, Whitgift School, Sunday 4th January.

The 2009 water polo season commenced with the first junior boys London League tournament.
With the squad not training since the Christmas break commenced in the middle of December we were anticipating a degree of rustiness but the boys still managed to play some good water polo and secure three wins. Inevitably we didn't play at our absolute best but this was understandable after not training for 3 weeks but we managed to put in some good performances.
The individual match reports are as follows:

Worthing 9, West London Penguin 2 (H/T 5-2)
A satisfactory win in the first match when the team showed at times that they hadn't played for a while. That said, this was a good win against a strong, physical opposition who are well organized. We missed a number of chances that we would expect to score from normally but it was still a comfortable victory.
Scorers: Scott Martin 3, Joel Abbott 2, Ziggy Tate 2, Dominic Cranford 1, Rob Osborne 1 (Pen).
Exclusions: Alastair Hardinge 1, Joel Abbott 1.

Worthing 14, Beckenham 2. (H/T 7-1)
A second win saw the Worthing team control this match throughout and score a number of excellent goals. We were never put under a great deal of pressure and more clinical finishing would have seen a greater margin of victory. We defended well and dealt particularly well with the opposition centre forward who we limited to a small number of chances.
Scorers: Scott Martin 5, Joel Abbott 3, Sam Abbott 3, Elliott Ellison 2, Dominic Cranford 1.
Exclusions: Tim Brazier 2, Joel Abbott 2.

Worthing 6, Croydon Amphibians 4. (H/T 3-1)
This was another Titanic match against our traditional rivals which was played in front an enthusiastic crowd. We took control in the early part of the match and led 3-1 at the break looking as though we would go on to record a comfortable win. Credit must go to the opposition who played well at the start of the second half and they soon made the score 3-3. We went ahead before another equalizer but two further goals eventually gave us victory.
The match contained 12 exclusions (6 for each team) and this indicated the physicality and commitment of both teams. Tim was unlucky to be excluded but ultimately it was our superior play in the "man ups" with excellent shooting from Scott Martin that secured a hard earned victory.
Scorers: Scott Martin 5, Ziggy Tate 1.
Exclusions: Tim Brazier 3, Dominic Cranford 1, Scott Martin 1, Alastair Hardinge 1.

Squad in full: Alexander Cranford (G/K), Scott Martin, Elliott Ellison, Rob Osborne, Dominic Cranford, Ziggy Tate, Alastair Hardinge, Sam Abbott, Joel Abbott, Tim Brazier.

This was an entertaining start to the 2009 season and it was nice to record the 3 wins. All the squad put in good performances but we will improve as the fitness levels improve in the coming weeks. Scott Martin led the scorers after a really solid display but Alexander Cranford (who is the youngest member of this squad) made a number of fine saves in goal.
A vote of thanks should be given to Dave, Jill and Kayley Alcorn who operated the electronic timing equipment and kept the match records and also to Ben Alcorn who helped out with the refereeing.
The squad will get an early opportunity to make some improvement: the second tournament is back at the same venue next Sunday!

Regards,

Alastair.

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Alastair Roberts
Water Polo Secretary

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posted on 6 September 2009

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posted on 18 July 2009

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posted on 25 June 2009

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posted on 3 April 2009

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posted on 18 January 2009

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posted on 18 January 2009

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posted on 12 January 2009

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