Match report

20/12/2016

This is the final water polo match report of 2016.

London Winter League
Under 14 Championship (Born 2003 & younger)
Whitgift School, South Croydon
Sunday 18th December 2016

We travelled to the last water polo tournament of the year with all of the squad looking forward to the chance to play matches against Croydon and Beckenham.
It was decided that because of the young age of the teams playing that the format would see each team playing each other twice in matches of 7 minute halves.
With a squad of 10 we knew that we had the fitness and swimming speed to exploit the opposition and all of our boys and girls (with one exception) had benefitted from playing in the inter regional competitions over the previous two weekends.
The individual reports were as follows:

Match 1. Worthing 6, Croydon 3.
We made a hesitant start and soon found ourselves 0-2 behind but we soon turned this around and we eventually ran out comfortable winners.
After the slow start our defending eventually started to dominate the opposition and we scored on a number of counter attacks.

Match 2. Worthing 4, Beckenham 3.
Another slow start again resulted in an early deficit but we slowly turned the game round and a strong second half performance saw the squad take control and eventually a deserved win.

Match 3. Worthing 10, Croydon 4.
A dominant performance when our superior fitness and speed exploited a tiring Croydon team.
Once again our high press defence created many opportunities when we gained possession and we scored a number of good quality goals.

Match 4. Worthing 12, Beckenham 4.
In the final match we were beginning to play some really impressive water polo and Beckenham had no answer to our speed on the counter attack.
We dominated the game from start to finish and the final score was a fair reflection of how we had controlled the match.

This was an excellent event for the squad and it was obvious to see the improvement that has been made in the short time since the first tournament. As I previously mentioned, virtually all of the boys and girls involved have trained and played with the under 14 south east regional teams the previous weekends and the it was easy to see how beneficial this has been.
The results have guaranteed that we will play in the top four play off tournament that will be played at the end of January.

Finally, all of the squad made significant contributions in all of the games and the goal scoring was shared around all of the players.

Squad in full: Owen Street, William Cavanagh, James Croud, Ben Bolton, Josh Coulson, Jamie Bond, Caitlin Silk, Grace Byford, Matt Hall & Mattie Smith.

Kind regards,

Alastair

Match report & news

12/12/2016

1. The following is a report on the final home match of 2016.

Sussex Senior League, Wednesday 1st December.
Worthing 14, Crawley 8.
Quarter Scores: 2-2, 5-1, 4-2, 3-3.

The last Sussex league game of the year was an interesting affair where we never really managed to play to our best.
That said, a predominantly youthful Crawley offered a decent opposition and always made it difficult for us to control the match.
After a cagey first period we played our best water polo of the match during the second quarter when we scored a number of good goals are our defending nullified the Crawley attack.
The second half of the match became increasingly scrappy but we were always in control of the match and the final score was probably a fair reflection of the difference between the teams.
It was good to see four juniors play in this match. Ben Curtis has been involved with our senior squad for a while but he was joined by Archy, Joe and Akos and all of them made significant contributions.

Scorers: Peter 5, George 3, Ben C 3, Matt 2, Richard 1.
Exclusions: Archy 2, Akos 1, Richard 1, Peter 1.
Squad in full: Ben Alcorn, Adrian Irbe, George Wood, Richard Hooper, Peter Benedek, Matt White, Archy Burnell, Akos Haukesnecht, Jon Bedder, Ben Curtis, Joe Brennand & Alastair Hardinge.

2. Three Worthing junior girls will make their debut this coming weekend for the South east squad that is playing in the ASA national inter region under 14 competition at Walsall.
Caitlin Silk, Grace Byford and Ruby Rosser are all looking forward to playing in this event and they will gain a great deal of experience competing against girls from the other regions from around the UK.
Ruby, at just over 11 years of age, becomes the youngest Worthing member to have played in a regional competition.

3. Worthing will also be well represented in South east boys squad that will play in the under 14 inter region competition which is also being played Walsall over the weekend of 10/11 December.
Josh Coulson, Jamie Bond, Mattie Smith, Oli Hodges and Ben Bolton have all worked hard to be selected for the regional team and they are also looking forward to playing in this prestigious event.

Kind regards,

Alastair

Match report

12/12/2016

British Water Polo League Division 2
Sunday 20th November
National Pool, Swansea

Worthing 6, Croydon 6.
Quarter Scores: 1-1, 2-2, 1-1, 2-2.

This was not a classic, it was a slow and low intensity match that just drifted along with neither team able to take the initiative.
Croydon made it incredibly difficult for us throughout the whole match not committing to attack for long periods to make sure that we couldn't make any quick counter attacks. As a result the match was low scoring with defences very much on top.
Marc did make a number of good saves and on some occasions we came up with some good attacking play, but we were again guilty of not taking our chances.
In a game of few highlights, Ben scored two fine goals to add to the one from yesterday and he put in a fine all-round performance. Our defending was always of a high standard but this was not a match that will live long in the memory.
We now don't play again until mid January when the second phase of the competition commences with the first tournament at Gloucester.

Scorers: Joao 2, Ben 2, George 1, Richard 1.
Exclusions: Joe 3, Richard, Peter, Joao, Toby, Philippe.

Squad in full: Marc Guimera, Gregg Candy-Wallace, Philippe Kirsanov, George Wood, Richard Hooper, Peter Benedek, Jacob Nash, Ben Curtis, Joao Martins, Matt White, Alastair Hardinge, Joe Hazeldine & Toby Underwood.

Kind regards,

Alastair Roberts

Match report

12/12/2016

British Water Polo League Division 2
Saturday 19th November
National Pool, Swansea

Worthing 5, Sutton & Cheam 7.
Quarter Scores: 1-1, 3-3, 1-2, 0-1.

We made the long trip to West Wales to face another demanding two game weekend, both against teams from South London. On Sunday we face Croydon but the Saturday match was against a talented Sutton team that now includes two new recruits who were part of the 2012 GB Olympic team.
This was obviously going to be a very tough fixture, but we discussed at length how we could best deal with the obvious threat form the opposition with a disciplined defensive plan.
For long periods our defensive play worked really well and we frustrated Sutton on many occasions forcing them to shoot from distance when Marc made a number of excellent saves.
We were struggling in attack against a very physical and tight defence but Philippe gave us the lead mid-way through the first quarter. The two teams traded goals through the remainder of the first half and the game was tied at 3-3 at the mid point.
We took the lead at the start of the first quarter when Ben scored with an excellent finish on an extra man play but Sutton scored twice and we started the final period 5-6 down.
The start of the final period proved to be crucial with our defence working well and our counter-attack starting to cause problems for Sutton. We missed a number of opportunities when we probably should have scored and we really should have equalised on more than one occasion. As time was running out Sutton scored a late goal and this was very hard on us after such a brave performance.
We don't like losing games but this really was a fine performance for long periods and we made a talented team work really hard to finally secure a victory.

Scorers: Joao 3, Philippe 1, Ben 1.
Exclusions: Philippe 3, Joe 2, Peter 1, Jacob 1, Ben 1.
Squad in full: Marc Guimera, Gregg Candy-Wallace, Philippe Kirsanov, George Wood, Richard Hooper, Peter Benedek, Jacob Nash, Ben Curtis, Joao Martins, Matt White, Alastair Hardinge, Joe Hazeldine & Toby Underwood.

I will forward the report from the Sunday match against Croydon later tomorrow (Sunday).

Kind regards,

Alastair Roberts

Match report

14/11/2016

British Water Polo League Division 2.
Weekend 2
Gloucester, 29/30 October 2016

After two close and ultimately frustrating defeats at Sheffield in the first matches of the 2016 national league campaign, we travelled to Gloucester for a very busy three match weekend.
This format is always very demanding and all of the squad we aware that we would be playing three very demanding games.
These are the individual match reports:

Match 1
Saturday 29th, 13.00
Worthing 10, Exeter 7
Quarter Scores: 4-2, 3-0, 2-3, 1-2

This was a good start to the weekend and we very much deserved to win a match that we controlled for the majority of the time.
We made a good start and played particularly well in the first two quarters building a 7-2 lead by half time. We didn't play quite as well in the third and fourth periods but we managed the game well and we eventually held on for a relatively comfortable win. Joe and Matt led the scorers with 3 each but this was really a good all round team performance where all of the squad made a good contribution.
Scorers: Joe 3, Matt 3, George 1, Peter 1, Joao 1, Toby 1.
Exclusions: Joao 2, Joe 2, George 1, Peter 1, Jacob 1.


Match 2
Saturday 29th, 18.00
Worthing 7, Welsh Wanderers 12
Quarter Scores: 1-2, 1-5, 2-2, 3-3

This was a very tough match against a well organised and physical Welsh Wanderers team who are always a tough opposition. The first quarter was a cagey affair without many clear cut chances for either team and we were slightly unfortunate to be 1-2 behind at the end of the period. The match was really decided in the second quarter when we made a number of unforced errors which were punished by the opposition and as result we trailed 2-7 at half time. We worked hard throughout the remainder of the match but the damage had been done and we were unable to force our way back into the game. We did work hard to break down the opposition defence and we won a number of exclusions but we didn't take enough of the opportunities that we created.
Overall we didn't play that badly and our defending was of a good standard for most of the match but we struggled in attack against a press defence.
Scorers: Joe 3, Joao 2, Peter 1, Ben 1.
Exclusions: Peter 2, George 1, Richard 1, Joao 1, Nathan 1.


Match 3
Sunday 30th, 10.30
Worthing 4, Team Northumbria 12
Quarter Scores: 2-3, 0-4, 2-4, 0-1

A similar match to the one the previous evening when we struggled to deal with a very strong defence and failed to take enough of the chances that we created.
We actually made a very positive start and we soon led 2-0 with goals from Joe and Alastair but Northumbria got back into the game and we trailed 2-3 at the end of the first quarter.
The second period proved to be decisive part of the match and we made a number of errors in defence that were punished by the opposition.
Out attack was struggling against a very physical opposition but we were guilty of not taking some chances that we really should have converted. To only score 4 goals throughout the match was disappointing but we were very unlucky at times and we should have scored more. Ben did come up with an excellent goal that showed what was possible but this had proved to be a very tough encounter.
Scorers: Joe 1, Joao 1, Alastair 1, Ben 1.
Exclusions: George 2, Dave 1, Peter 1.

Squad in full: Marc Guimera, Peter Benedek, Richard Hoper, Matt White, Ben Curtis, Joao Martins, George Wood, Sam Abbott, Nathan Hart, Jacob Nash, Joe Hazeldine, Dave Hinder, Toby Underwood, Alastair Hardinge.

Obviously 1 win and 2 defeats was not what we had hoped for from the weekend at Gloucester but the two defeats were against good quality opposition. The final first phase weekend is at Swansea in three weeks time and we will play our final two fixtures.
The squad are determined to keep working hard and we hope that we will record 2 positive results at Swansea.

Kind regards,

Alastair

Match report

11/10/2016

This is the report of the first national league weekend of the 2016/2017 season.

British Water Polo League Division 2.
Weekend 1, Ponds Forge, Sheffield.
8th/9th October 2016

Having finished that last national league campaign with our highest ever finish we were looking forward to the new season which started at possibly the best venue in the UK.
We travelled with a full squad of 13 players and we faced two tough matches against talented opposition.
These are the individual match reports:

Match 1, Saturday 8th October, 17.05
Worthing 6, London Polytechnic 10
Quarter Scores: 4-0, 1-4, 1-3, 0-3

This was a remarkable match against a very talented team who we all realised would be a very difficult opposition.
We started the game playing some quality water polo at a high tempo that Poly struggled to cope with. As a result we raced into a 4-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and we soon extended this to 5-0 early in the second period.
Unfortunately the game began to change as Poly began to take control and we really struggled to defend against a well organised team. We were also finding it difficult to create much in attack but when we did we were guilty of missing a number of chances. This was particularly true of a number of the "man up" plays when Poly had a player excluded and we really should have made more of the chances that came our way.
All of the squad and coaches were disappointed to lose this game but we had shown enough early on to indicate that we are capable of playing to really good standard. The challenge is to maintain a high level of consistent play at this level.
Scorers: George 3, Joao 1, Ben 1, Matt 1.
Exclusions: George 2, Ben 2, Sam 1, Joao 1, Joe 1, Matt 1


Match 2, Saturday 9th October, 12.05
Worthing 8, West London Penguin 9
Quarter Scores: 2-3, 1-2, 3-3, 2-1

The Sunday match was against a very strong Penguin team who now feature a large number of talented foreign players who play a physical game.
The game proved to be a pulsating affair when we were always behind but came incredibly close to securing what would have been a very well deserved draw.
Penguin always looked dangerous in attack and they now have a number of excellent outside shooters who kept Marc in goal very busy and he produced a number of quality saves that kept us in the game.
In attack we always looked threatening and our quick counters resulted in the opposition committing a high number of exclusion fouls, Unfortunately, we carried on from the Saturday missing far too many of the chances this presented.
We were never behind by more than two goals and at the start of the final period we were trailing 6-8. Joe reduced the margin to a single goal from a tight angle and then we were unfortunate to concede another goal which restored Penguin's two goal advantage.
In a thrilling climax to the game Joe scored again with just over two minutes left from probably our best "man up" play of the weekend. Penguin had a couple of opportunities but in the final few seconds we managed to win the ball in the middle of the pool and on the counter attack we really should have scored to tie the game. Unfortunately we didn't convert the opportunity and Penguin held on to win by the narrowest of margins.
Although this was a second defeat the squad should take a great deal from the way that we came so close to a positive result against a very talented opposition.
Scorers: Joao 2, Matt 2, Joe 2, Alastair 1, Richard 1.
Exclusions: George 1, Richard 1, Peter 1, Dave 1.

Squad in full: Marc Guimera, Richard Hooper, Dave Hinder, Jack Payne, Alastair Hardinge, Joe Hazeldine, Ben Curtis, Peter Benedek, George Wood, Sam Abbott, Matt White, Toby Underwood, Joao Martins.
Coach: Alastair Roberts, Assistant Coach: Ben Alcorn, Team Manager: Gregg Candy-Wallace.

This was really tough weekend but we should take a number of positives from the two matches. We know what we need to improve on and we will be working hard over the next three weeks as we build up to the next matches that will be played at Gloucester.

Kind regards,

Alastair

Match report

11/10/2016

Worthing Under 13 ( 2003) Water Polo

On Sunday 9th October 2006 the following players represented Worthing in the London League 2003 and younger Water Polo competition at Whitgift School , Croydon:

1. Owen STREET ( Crawley) - Goalkeeper.
2. Josh COULSON
3. Ben BOLTON - Captain
4. Matty SMITH
5. James CROUD (Hythe)
6. Tom BROADBRIDGE ( Hythe)
7. Jamie BOND
8. Ruby ROSSER
9. Grace BYFORD
10. Catlin SILK
11. Ollie HODGES.

With the withdrawal of Bexley WP on the day of the competition Worthing had to play 2 full length back to back games against the more experienced teams from Beckenham and Croydon. For 5 of the Worthing team - this was their first competitive game.

Worthing - v - Beckenham lost 8 - 10

Beckenham were unable to cope with the tight press defence from Worthing and quick counter attack in the first 2 quarters of the game and Worthing were 5 - 4 up at the half way point. Josh took responsibility for tight marking of the Beckenham pit attacker. Owen made a string of excellent saves, and Matty and Ben worked tirelessly up and down the wings.
At half time, Beckenham changed to marking Jamie with 2 players in the second half, this slowed Worthing's pace of attack. In the end, Worthing were unlucky to lose by 2 goals, having unfortunately missed a few scoring opportunities in the 2nd half.

Scorers: Jamie - 5, James - 2, Josh - 1.
Majors : Jamie - 2, Tom -1.

Worthing -v- Croydon won 6-5

Whilst everyone had the opportunity to play in the first game, in this game all the 'new ' players really showed the skills they have picked up in training. Ollie won 2 out of the 3 swim offs he went for and he, Catlin and Grace worked hard to move from defence to attack and were unlucky not to score their first goals having got into shooting positions. Josh was a rock again in defence, his uncompromising style meant that he had collected 3 majors by half time. Matty took over , marking the pit attacker. Ben took over responsibility for taking the ball from defence to attack. With Jamie being tightly marked, often by more than 1 player, James and Tom took scoring opportunities by well placed shots from the ark. Ruby marked players obviously much older and bigger , by keeping excellent body positioning so to get early tackles in. The final score slightly flattered Croydon as Jamie and Owen, conspired to score a goal for the opposition just before the end.

Scorers: James - 3, Jamie - 2, Tom- 1.

Majors: Josh - 3, Matty -1, Ruby - 1.

All in all, a very successful afternoon of water polo for Worthing. At the Team meeting, each player was given a role and without exception they all worked hard to defend hard and play a quick counterattacking game.

This team play again on the 18th December and it is anticipated that most of the players will get the opportunity of representing SE at the Inter Regional tournaments in early December.


Steve Bond
 

Match report

19/7/2016

Just a quick report on the 2001 age group boys inter regional championship that was played at Millfield school last weekend.
The South east region team featured Worthing members Joe Brennand, Akos Hausknecht and Josh Coulson.
The team eventually finished 9th out of a full complement of 11 teams that entered and they had a good win against the North west Ravens and a very creditable draw against Scotland.

The attached picture of the squad includes Akos (2nd from the left in the front row), Josh (3rd from the left in the front row) and Joe (centre of the back row).
 

Team Picture

Ben Alcorn coached the team and Dave Alcorn was team manager.

Kind regards,

Alastair

Match report

19/7/2016

Sussex County ASA

London & South East Junior Boys Water Polo Tournament

White Oaks Leaisure Cntre Swanley

2nd July 2016

Report here.

The Sussex squad pictured with county president Tim Pearce.

Back row (L-R) George Wood, Adam Pearson, James Blything, Toby Underwood, Jacob Nash, Alastair R (coach)
Front row (L-R) Robbie Scott, Ben Chegwin, Tim Pearce, Archy Burnell, Ben Curtis, William Allgar

Kind regards,

Alastair

Match report

27/6/2016

The following is a report of yesterdays water polo matches at Splashpoint.

South East Region Men's Water Polo Championship
Saturday 25th June 2016
Splashpoint, Worthing.

Having won both of the first two matches in this championship at the end of May at Portsmouth, we were looking forward to playing the remaining two fixtures at our home pool. The following are the individual match reports:

Match 1. 16.15
Worthing 26, Crawley 6.
Quarter Scores: 9-1, 1-3, 4-0, 12-2

This was a relatively easy win against a very young Crawley team who put up a brave performance but were ultimately well beaten. We played well in the first quarter of the match and it was obvious that Crawley would not cause us too many problems and we were particularly effective on the counter attack. All of the squad had a good amount of water time and 9 of the squad of 12 were on the score sheet with Joao and Joe leading the scorers with 6 each.
It was a satisfactory win that hopefully would act a good warm up for the match later in day against Southampton.
Scorers: Joe 6, Joao 6, Alastair 4, George 3, Ben C 2, Ben A 2, Richard 1, Matt 1, Sam 1.
Exclusions: George 3, Ben A 1, Adrian 1, Richard 1, Ben C 1, Joe 1, Robbie 1, Jack 1.


Match 2, 19.45
Worthing 14, Southampton 8
Quarter Scores: 5-3, 5-2, 2-1, 2-2

This was an exciting match to conclude the competition with the two outstanding teams playing in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd.
Southampton are a vastly improved team and have benefitted greatly from playing in third division of the national league.
We made a strong start and soon led 2-0 after George scored from a man up attack and Ben Curtis took his chance on a quick counter attack.
Southampton were always causing us problems in attack and at the end of the first period we led 5-3. The second quarter really changed the game and we played some quality water polo scoring a number of excellent goals and at the half time break we led 10-5.
In comparison, the second half of the match was relatively dull with both teams tiring but we still controlled most aspects of the game, Ben made a number of good saves but our lead was never seriously threatened and we eventually secured a good win.
All of the squad put in good performances and the final score was a fair reflection of our dominance but we know that we can play better having missed a number of chances, as well as conceding a number of goals that we really should have avoided.
Scorers: George 3, Ben C 3, Matt 3, Joe 2, Sam 1, Joao 1, Robbie 1.
Exclusions: Richard 3, Jack 3, Matt 2, Sam 1, Joe 1.

Squad in full: Ben Alcorn, Adrian Irbe, George Wood, Richard Hooper, Ben Curtis, Sam Abbott, Joao Martins, Matt White, Joe Hazeldine, Robbie Scott, Jack Payne, Alastair Hardinge.

Overall this was a successful and satisfactory defence of the South East regional title that we have held for the past few years. We played well at times but we will need to work on a number of things, not least our fitness levels, as we build up to the national league campaign that starts at the end of September.

Kind regards,

Alastair

Match report

18/6/2016

Sussex County Senior League.
Thursday 16th June 2016
Hastings 7, Worthing 20
Quarter Scores: 2-5, 2-4, 2-4, 1-7

We travelled to Hastings with a seriously depleted squad with exams, holidays and work commitments resulting in a number of our players not being available.
Hastings is the furthest trip that we make in the county league and the small, shallow pool is always a challenge for us. This has now been exacerbated by a recent facelift with the introduction of new lighting. The only problem with this is that it is so dark it makes it impossible to see what is going on in the gloom.
We actually played quite well at times in the match and we scored a number of excellent goals, particularly with a number of excellent outside shots. Joe was particularly prolific scoring 8 times and he was well supported by Alastair who scored 5 and Richard who netted on 4 occasions.
The longer the match went on the more we dominated proceedings and the final quarter saw the opposition tire and we scored 7 times while conceding only once.

Overall this was a satisfactory win which the quality of our play very much deserved.

Scores: Joe 8, Alastair 5, Richard 4, Ben Curtis 1, Ben Alcorn 1, Robbie 1.
Exclusions: Adrian 2, Joe 1, Richard 1, Ben 1.
Squad in full: Ben Alcorn, Adrian Irbe, Ben Curtis, Robbie Scott, Richard Hooper, Alastair Hardinge, Joe Hazeldine & Alastair Roberts.

Kind regards,

Alastair

Water polo costume

6/6/2016

We have finally organised a new girls water polo costume which is based on the same design as the boys trunks which were introduced last year.
Could you publicise the designs on the club website?

The trunks cost £20, the girls costume £30, and anyone interested should contact me either at Splashpoint or via my e-mail.

Girls water polo costume

Boys water polo costume

Kind regards,

Alastair.

Match report

24/5/2016

A busy few days for the senior men's squad saw the team in action in the Sussex county league and the SE regional championships.
These are the individual match reports:

Friday 20th May, Prince Regent Pool Brighton.
Brighton 3, Worthing 12.
Quarter Scores:

This was not a great advert for water polo as a result of the shallow and now badly lit Prince Regent pool. With most players able to stand in virtually all areas of the pool the match was never going to easy to referee and Brighton seemed intent on challenging seemingly every decision. Brighton had a player dismissed for a clear act of brutality but we didn't really take enough advantage of playing with an extra man for 4 minutes.
Overall we controlled the match and our defensive play stopped the opposition form creating many chances. When they did, Ben was his normal reliable self in goal. We possibly should have scored more but we were happy to take the win and move on. The only downside was an injury to Joe late on in the game which would rule him out for the games at the weekend.
Scorers: Peter 3, Richard 3, Matt 2, Ben C 2, Jacob 1, Archy 1
Exclusions: Richard 1, Peter 1, Adrian 1, Joe 1, Jacob 1
Squad in full: Ben Alcorn, Matt White, Richard Hooper, Peter Benedek, Adrian Irbe, Joe Hazeldine, Ben Curtis, Jacob Nash & Archy Burnell.


Sunday 22nd May, Mountbatten Centre Portsmouth.

Match 1.
Worthing 26, Basingstoke 4.
Quarter Scores: 4-0, 6-2, 10-2, 6-0.

We travelled to Portsmouth with a strong squad of 12 but missing Joe who had sustained the injury on Friday in the Brighton match.
The match against Basingstoke was a relatively easy win and our combination of a press defence and a direct counter attack was always too much for the opposition.
Ben and Marc shared the goalkeeping and both put in good performances when playing out on the pitch.
All of the squad played a good amount in this win which gave us a chance to work on the number of things that we have practiced in recent training sessions.
Scorers: Peter 8, George 4, Ben C 4, Alastair 3, Richard 2, Matt 2, Adrian 1, Jacob 1, Marc 1.
Exclusions: Matt 2, Sam 1, Peter 1, Adrian 1, Jacob 1, Marc 1.

Match 2.
Worthing 16, City of Oxford 11.
Quarter Scores: 4-2, 2-6, 7-2, 3-0.

Because of the late withdrawal by Crawley we had two play the two full matches with only a half hour break between them and that is always a demanding proposition.
We tried to change our defensive shape at the start of the match and although this was fairly successful in the first quarter we struggled badly in the second period and as a result we trailed by a couple of goals at half time. We then reverted to the tactic that had worked well in the Basingstoke game and as a result we totally dominated the third quarter.
We were not helped by the loss of Alastair who received an accidental bang to the head and as a result missed over half of the game. He also ended up in A & E where he was treated for the concussion that he had suffered.
Our third quarter dominance took the game away from Oxford and we controlled the final period and as a result secured a satisfactory if unspectacular win.
This was a tough game and Oxford were a well organised and hard working opposition who pushed us hard but ultimately we were well worth our second win of the day.
Scorers: George 6, Matt 5, Peter 3, Richard 2
Exclusions: George 2, Matt 2, Sam 1, Arian 1, Ben 1.

Squad in full at Portsmouth: Ben Alcorn, Marc Guimera, Matt White, Richard Hooper, Peter Benedek, Adrian Irbe, Ben Curtis, Jacob Nash, George Wood, Sam Abbott, Robbie Scott, Alastair Hardinge.

The two wins at Portsmouth were well deserved and set us up for the two remaining fixtures which will be played at Splashpoint on Saturday 25th June. This should be an exciting proposition and we would encourage as many people as possible to come along and support the team.

Kind regards,

Alastair.

Match report

21/4/2016

The following is a quick report on the much delayed 2015 Sussex senior knock out final that was played at Splashpoint last Wednesday.

Worthing 22, Brighton 6 + 2 handicap = 8.
Quarter scores:

This was a satisfactory win in a match that we dominated throughout but became an increasingly bad tempered affair.
Brighton struggled to create many chances against our well organised defending and we always looked dangerous on the counter attack.
The small number of chances that they did create were mainly well dealt with by Ben in goal but we were always in control.
The final score was probably a fair reflection of the difference between the teams and as a result we successfully retained the trophy.

Scorers: Joao 5, George 4, Peter 4, Ben 3, Joe 3, Richard 3.
Exclusions: Joe 2, Richard 1, Jacob 1, Robbie 1.
Squad in full: Ben Alcorn (g/k), Robbie Scott, Ben Curtis, Joe Hazeldine, Jacob Nash, Jon Bedder, Richard Hooper, Peter Benedek, Joao Martins, George Wood and Alastair Hardinge.

Kind regards,

Alastair.

Sussex Girls Report

20/4/2016

Just a quick note on the recent Sussex girls under 19 squad who won the London/SE regional championship with a 9-2 win against Kent at Swanley last Saturday.

The squad of 11 featured 6 girls who are Worthing members and train in our sessions on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
Sussex controlled the match throughout and always looked the dominant team and probably should have won by a greater margin.
All of the Worthing girls made a significant contribution and Daisy and Lara both scored twice.

In the attached picture Gemma Coulson in in the back row on the right hand side. The middle row features Annah Bowles, Daisy Hazeldine and Alice Mantle (L-R) to the right of the picture. Abby-Lou Rocky and Lara Partridge are at the front.

Kind regards,

Alastair

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5hCSO3ILhWEbHQ4bm1UenhpUWd0OVl6VnlTcGZBa05GZTNF/view?usp=sharing

Joe's selection for the GB junior water polo team

23/3/2016

Article regarding Joe's selection for the GB junior water polo team which will play in the European qualifiers from the ASA website.

We are all delighted that Joe has been selected but it is very much deserved because he has been working incredibly hard over the past few months.

Kind regards,

Alastair.

---- from ASA website ----

Squad selected for men’s U19 European Junior Champs qualifiers

A squad of 15 English players has been named as the British team travelling to Turkey for the Men’s European U19 Water Polo Championships 2016 qualification tournament.

Taking place from 4 – 8 May, the event will see Great Britain aiming to finish in the top two in their group to qualify for the finals in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands from 11 – 18 September.

The Brits have been draw in Group B of the Men’s European U19 Water Polo Championships 2016 qualification stage, and will take on Montenegro, Israel, Belgium and hosts Turkey in Istanbul.

The squad includes City of Manchester goalkeeper Dylan Green, who was namedEngland Water Polo Athlete of the Year in 2015, as well as six members of last year’sEnglish Schools’ Swimming Association (ESSA) team.

Speaking after the squad announcement, U19 head coach Tim Dunsbee said: “This section was very difficult as all our under 19 players have been working very hard and there is a real unity between them.

“Our final preparations are well underway with four further training events prior to the qualification tournament, including our pre-tournament camp in Malta.”

TEAM SELECTED FOR MEN’S EUROPEAN U19 WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016 QUALIFICATION TOURNAMENT:

Aaron Winstanley (captain) – City of Manchester
Dan Paddon (vice-captain) – City of Manchester/Chelmsford
Dylan Green – City of Manchester
Joe Hazeldine – Worthing
Ben Riding – City of Manchester
Chris Ray – City of Manchester
Matt Kelly – Solihull
Kameron Powell – Exeter
Matt Madden – Solihull
Joel Leighton – City of Sheffield
Jordan Elliot – Solihull
Ashley Castle – Bristol Central
Peter Pickford – Watford
Rob Gourley – City of Manchester (reserve)
Rudi Polster – Cheltenham (reserve)
 

News

6/3/2016

Just a quick message regarding the 1999 age group ASA inter-regional competitions that were played last weekend.

The girls tournament was played at the new Northampton school pool and the South East team featured Worthing members Annah Bowles, Alice Mantle and Charlie Bond.

The boys made the long trip to the Manchester aquatic centre and and the South East team featured Worthing's Ben Curtis, who was named the squads MVP, and Archy Burnell. The boy's were coached by Ben Alcorn.
I have attached a squad picture and Ben Curtis is in the front row 3rd from the left and Archy is next to him 4th from the left.

Kind regards,

Alastair

Match report

3/2/2016

This is the final report of the 20115-2016 British Water Polo League season.

BWPL Championship 2
30th/31st January 2016
National Pool, Swansea.

After a very demanding series of 11 matches we travelled to Swansea to play the final 3 fixtures in our national league campaign.
We a place in the second division already guaranteed for next season we were looking forward to playing three very tough matches over the weekend.
All season we have been able to play with a full squad of thirteen players and we actually took 14 to Swansea with three of the squad playing two of the three matches.
These are the individual match reports:

Saturday, 13.10
Worthing 6, Sheffield 12
Quarter Scores: 1-5, 1-2, 2-1, 3-2

Sheffield are a talented team who started this season in division 1 and they feature ex-Worthing junior Joel Abbott who played against younger brother Sam in this match.
We knew that this would be a tough game against a well organised opposition and although we didn't play that badly we finished the first quarter 1-5.
Although we never looked in a position to win the game we kept going well and the the final score was probably a slightly harsh reflection of how we had played.
We struggled a little in attack and we did miss a few chances that we probably should have taken but the performance was no disaster and we could take a number of positives from the way we played.

Scorers: Peter 2, George 2, Tom 1, Richard 1.
Exclusions: George 2, Richard 1, Joao 1.

Saturday, 14.40
Worthing 7, Polytechnic 9.
Quarter Scores: 2-0, 0-4, 1-2, 4-3

This was an exciting match against a Poly team who had only beaten us 5-4 in our previous meeting in Sheffield back in September.
We made an excellent start and soon led 2-0 after excellent goals from Joe and Peter. We switched off a little in the second period and our normally reliable defending wasn't up to it's normally high standard and this allowed Poly back into the game.
At the start of the final period we trailed 3-6 but we scored twice at the start of the quarter and at 5-6 we looked like the team who had the momentum. Poly scored next to make it 5-7 but Alastair scored from an excellently worked man-up to cut the deficit to one goal. In a really exciting climax we had a number of opportunities to equalise but we didn't take our chances and then Poly restored the two goal margin. George scored to make the score 7-8 and we again had chances to equalise but we were finally undone by a defensive mix up that resulted in Poly scoring a late penalty.

Scorers: Joe 3, George 2, Peter 1, Alastair 1.
Exclusions: Tom 2, George 2, Sam 1, Richard 1, Joao 1, Joe 1, Ben 1.

Sunday, 12.30
Worthing 14, Croydon 13.
Quarter Scores: 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, 2-4.

This was a terrific game to finish the BWPL season and we played with a really high tempo throughout which always caused Croydon problems. Our attacking play was much better and we scored a number of excellent goals both on the counter attack and from set attacking positions. Our swimming game always made it difficult for the opposition and we always felt that our fitness and strength on the bench would give us an advantage over all of the match.
Our defending was not quite at it's best and we were slightly disappointed to concede 13 goals but one of these was in the lat second of the match and by then the points had been secured.
All the squad put in strong performances and Joao and Joe led the scoring but the win again highlighted the importance of having a full bench who are all able to come in and make significant contributions.

Scorers: Joao 4, Joe 3, Matt 2, Tom 1, Richard 1, Peter 1, Nathan 1, George 1
Exclusions: Joe 3, Ben 2, Tom 1, Toby 1, Nathan 1.

Squad in full: Marc Guimera (g/k), Tom Kane, Sam Abbott, Richard Hooper, Peter Benedek, Matt White, Joao Martins, Toby Underwood, Joe Hazeldine, Nathan Hart, Ben Curtis, George Wood, Alastair Hardinge, Jacob Nash.
Coach: Ben Alcorn, Assistant Coach: Alastair Roberts, Team Manager: Gregg Candy-Wallace.

We never like losing games but overall this was another good weekend for us. The win against Croydon has secured a 6th place finish in Championship 1 and as a result we are now ranked as the 11th best team in the country. This is a remarkable achievement for a team that plays prominently in the Sussex league but all of the squad realise that with hard work we still can make further improvement. We have an excellent combination of experienced players and some talented juniors and we will be looking to make a further improvement in the next BWPL campaign.
Finally, we owe a vote of thanks to the loyal bunch of parents and supporters who have followed us around the country during the past few months and also to Roffey Homes who are our principal sponsor.

Kind regards,

Alastair

Match report

14/1/2016

The following is a report of the latest BWPL weekend.


British Water Polo League
Championship 1
Salt Ayre, Lancaster, 9/10 January 2016

We made the long journey north to Lancaster for the second time this season to play the latest round of matches in our British water polo league campaign.
Having qualified for championship 1 after a very successful first phase of the season we are playing quality teams in every game and at Lancaster we faced fixtures against Northumbria and Solihull.
These are the individual match reports:

Saturday 9th January, 15.45.
Worthing 8, Northumbria 7.
Quarter Scores: 0-2, 3-2, 2-1, 3-2.

This was a pulsating match when we came from behind to record an excellent win.
Northumbria are one of the 3 first division teams in Championship 1 and we realised that we would be in for a very tough match against a talented opposition.
We had discussed at the pre-match meeting how we wanted to play and how important it was that we made a good start in the match. We actually did start positively and we were unfortunate to be 0-2 behind at the end of the first quarter. Our attacking play was struggling against a well organised defence but we did create a number of opportunities but we missed on a few occasions when we probably should have scored.
As the match went on we started to gain a degree of control and by the end of the third quarter we had drawn level at 5-5.
The final quarter was a roller coaster and we soon fell behind again at the start of the period but Richard soon equalised. With just over 4 minutes left Matt scored to give us the lead for the first time in the match and we looked fairly comfortable in defence but unfortunately we conceded an equaliser with 40 seconds left. In a frantic finish Northumbria had a player excluded with 19 seconds left and 7 seconds later Richard scored with an excellent finish to give us the lead again.
The drama wasn't quite over and in the remaining few seconds Joe was harshly excluded and with the last shot of the match Northumbria hit the post when they probably should have scored.
This was an excellent win against a team that started this season in division 1 and it indicates the progress that the squad has made

Scorers: Richard 2, Joao 2, Matt 2, Toby 1, Joe 1.
Exclusions: Joe 3, Nathan 2, Jacob 1.


Sunday 10th January, 09.00.
Worthing 4, Solihull 10.
Quarter Scores: 1-2, 1-3, 0-1, 2-4.

After the excitement of the match on the Saturday it was always going to be tough to raise our game early on Sunday morning against a talented and physical Solihull team.
This was exactly how it proved to be and we struggled to get going form the start of the match. We didn't play badly but we were never at our best and we were also unlucky to lose Joao at half time for a technical offence. Our defending was reasonably good and we frustrated the opposition on many occasions by stopping service to the centre forward. Unfortunately we were mainly struggling in attack where the tough defending from the opposition was proving really difficult to break down. We also were well below par when playing "man up" when Solihull had players excluded and we wasted most of the opportunities that we were presented with.
The final score is possibly a little harsh but we hadn't been at our best and we never really did enough to secure a positive result. That said, this was another tough match that will definitely help with our development as we move forward.

Scorers: Richard 2, Peter 1, Matt 1
Exclusions: Joao 3, Nathan 2, Jacob 1, Alastair 1

Squad in full: Marc Guimera (g/k), Tom Kane (Sunday), Gregg Candy-Wallace (Saturday), Richard Hooper, Peter Benedek, Matt White, Joao Martins, Toby Underwood, Jacob Nash, Joe Hazeldine, Nathan Hart, Ben Curtis, Sam Abbott, Alastair Hardinge.


Overall this was another good weekend for the squad and although we never like to lose matches we can take a great deal of credit from how we played. The 600 mile round trip makes it a long way to play two matches but we played with a full squad and we received excellent support form the large number of friends and family who travelled to support the team.
We finish our BWPL season with a busy three match program in Swansea in three weeks time and we hope to continue the development that the squad is undoubtedly making.

Kind regards,

Alastair