WATER POLO: A LAST ditch effort to rescue a positive result ended in defeat for City of Coventry women’s water polo team in Cheltenham at the weekend as they finished runners up in the SBAT British Water Polo Championships.
With the semi-finals taking place on Saturday and the final on Sunday, Coventry were in action against City of Manchester in the second event of the day.
The first quarter saw Manchester take an early two goal lead, though Danielle Elliot spearheaded Coventry’s comeback as they drew level by the end of the quarter.
In an equally tight second quarter, Coventry took the lead through Ella Cotton.
A third goal from Danni saw Coventry extend their lead, though Manchester responded by pulling one back as Coventry led by a goal at the half-way stage.
A goalless third quarter was followed by a fifth goal for Coventry in the concluding quarter as Vicki Hawkins doubled the city side’s lead.
Manchester reacted with three consecutive goals of their own – leaving Coventry coach Ian Elliot with no option but to call a time-out to settle his side’s nerves.
Sophie Linney pulled Coventry level a minute after the time-out before Elliot rounded off a dramatic game with the match-winning marker with less than two minutes remaining.
Linney and Elliot’s goals set up a grand final clash against defending champions Liverpool Lizards on Sunday.
The game was closely contested with both team’s struggling to find an opening goal in the opening minutes.
Liverpool quickly quashed Coventry’s defensive focus though to lead by three goals at the end of the opening quarter.
The start of the second quarter saw a more organised Coventry side pull two goals back courtesy of Fran Clayton and Claire Walmsley.
A controversially disallowed goal denied City an equaliser as Liverpool stretched their lead to two goals at the start of the third quarter.
Coventry again managed to recover though as Walmsley scored her second goal before Rachel Thompson levelled the scores.
Some back and forth saw Liverpool score again to regain the lead, only for Cheng Ong to again level the scores.
Unfortunately, two further man-up goals from Liverpool left Coventry trailing 5-7 going into the final quarter.
Going into the fourth quarter, Liverpool scored again to extend their lead to three goals.
Abandoning caution, Coventry pressed into attack – a gamble which failed to pay off.
The game ended Liverpool 10 – 7 Coventry.
