NATIONAL WATER POLO LEAGUE
	Founded 1962     (Affiliated to the A.S.A.)
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2004 Results :-

LANCASTER RETAIN BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE

National League champions Lancaster completed the double when they defeated Rotherham Metro 5-3 in the final of the British Championship at Manchester. Lancaster, the defending champions, who only sneaked through to this year's final after a tight encounter with Portobello, triumphed 5-3 to defeat Rotherham and with victory claimed the national crown for the second year running.

Individual final match results :-

Rotherham could find no answer to their north west opponents in the first half as they raced into a 4-0 lead and never looked back.

Colin Burgess, the seasoned England international, led from the front with three goals, while Tom Curwen added the rest. However, to their credit, Richard Layton (2) and Liam Pearl scored for Rotherham and made Lancaster battle hard after the interval to retain the title they won last year following an 11-6 victory over London-based side Hammersmith Penguin.

"Lancaster were just a lot stronger than us on the day," admitted Norman Layton, the Rotherham Metro coach. "We only got into the game after half time and we were on the ascendancy when they didn't score in the third quarter. "But all credit to Lancaster, although we scored a few goals in the fourth quarter they did enough to win. "When Lancaster got a four-goal cushion it is always going to be hard to come back, but I'm pleased with the way the lads played and it was great to get to the final."

Ryszard Dethko, the Lancaster City coach, was understandably delighted with his team's performance, but admitted the first quarter had been "hard going". "We should have been 4-0 up in the first quarter but our finishing let us down," said Dethko, "but I'm much happier than I was on Saturday after the semi final. "Rotherham have been looking good and we always knew it would be a tough game, but it was a case of 'do you want to win or not?'. The players knew that and they responded. It's great to win the title for a second year. We all know what we are capable of and I'm glad that we managed to raise our game for the final. "The lads did well and I'm especially happy because I was worried that we might not do as well this year. The players have not really been firing on all cylinders in the past few weeks, but when it mattered we made sure we played well."

Indeed, Lancaster led throughout (1-0, 4-0, 4-0, 5-3), and courtesy of Burgess' and Curwen's goals completed another successful season.

Portobello made up for the disappointment of missing out on this year's senior final by clinching the bronze medal. The Scottish club defeated Bristol Central 7-5 in the first match of the day having led throughout 2-1, 4-3 and 7-4. Barry Davidson led the Portobello charge with a hat-trick, while Neilson Rutherford (2), Giles Gilhooly and Darryl Johnson all scored for the Edinburgh-based team. Rob Bird replied with a hat-trick for Bristol and John Sissons and Paul Morris were also on the scoresheet, but Portobello hung on to make sure of a medal.

ROTHERHAM & PORTOBELLO LEAD THE PRELIMINARY GROUPS

Scotland NWPL Champions Portobello and Runners-Up Dunfermline joined our top six in the British Senior Water Polo Championships at Lancaster Salt Ayre Sports Centre.

On Sunday, Rotherham took the top slot by beating current title holders Lancaster 6-5. Portobello and Bristol both won their games but the result between them decided the final placings. This rule also applied to the Penguin v Manchester match.

Preliminary round table :-

Individual preliminary round match results :-