Aiming for a win in the men’s water polo was never going to be an easy task, considering Northumbria sit a league above Newcastle in BUCS.
Northumbria showed their dominance from the off, stealing the ball from Captain Andy Robinson, and setting up a wide arc formation, allowing no.4 the room to produce a powerful bounce shot which just met the hands of Newcastle’s goalie Charlie Bashall.
Following an unsuccessful counter, Newcastle found Northumbria back in their half, this time with a phenomenal shot from Northumbria’s fullback to the right-hand corner.
0-1 down Newcastle tried to slow play down which worked well. Unfortunately, Jack Hurst found the cross-bar on this occasion.
Northumbria had serval attempts at goal with though struggled to find the net, as Adam Courtley performed some great blocks, and Bashall saved a shot to the right-hand top corner.
Following some great defensive play Robinson launched an attack from the half-way line find the top-left hand corner of the net to end the first quarter 1-1.
Northumbria’s dominance continued into the second quarter, although despite this they struggled to get through Newcastle’s defence. Strong passes around their arc resulted in a successful bounce shot straight into Newcastle’s goal.
“Northumbria had several attempts at goal, but struggled to find the net”
This was soon followed this up with another bounce shoot, catching Bashall out as it went over the top of his head. 3-1 down, Robinson took another shot at goal but it was slightly too powerful, and sailed over the top of the cross-bar.
Newcastle suffered a couple of controversial calls against them, resulting in Harry Simpson receiving a major, making Newcastle a man down. Despite this, Northumbria were unable to capitalise, until the very dying seconds of the half.
The third quarter saw similar controversial decisions and more dominating play from Northumbria. With Newcastle yet again finding themselves a man down opening up a window for Northumbria to score, this time in the right-hand side of the goal bring the score to 5-1.
The final quarter, saw great defensive play from the Newcastle as they blocked challenges from Northumbria. Their efforts met reward as Robinson found the net with a lob shot to the top right-hand corner.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough and within the last 60 seconds, Northumbria found the net one final time in the right-bottom corner.
Despite the 2-6 score line, there are many positive to take from this game as the men demonstrated some great defensive plays along with the truly harnessed the spirit of the Stan Calvert cup, fighting right up until the final whistle with every ounce of grit and determination they had left.
MVP: Andy Robinson