By James Richardson
York: 19 – Chester: 2
York: 3 – Leeds Met: 13
With shots allowed to be fired from just two metres in front of goal, water polo is a sport in which small differences on the goal line make a big difference to the score line. York’s mens 1st team proved this with mixed results this week, beating Chester comprehensively on the Wednesday night and losing to an impressive Leeds Met side the next day.
Wednesday’s match started out by looking pretty even, with attacks by both York and Chester successfully defended. Yet 90 seconds into play the first goal was scored from the left wing by Elliot Thurland, and goals began to mount for York.
York went 6-0 up in the first quarter, with goals from Mike Perkins, James Richardson, Giulio Schnaia, Stuart Paterson and Yaroslav Magnus-Hamblett. York kept this up with a fluid style of play that proved too fast for the Chester defence.
York scored another 3 goals before Chester scored their first. Goalkeeper Chris Snowden, later to receive man of the match for his quick reactions, saved a great number of long range shots and lobs from the Chester side. This was Chester’s best quarter, but they proved unable to sustain tiring counter-attacks and didn’t venture into York’s half often enough.
With Chris Unsworth playing sweeper at the back, and movement up front, York were able to quickly get the ball up to their centres, leaving Chester’s markers behind. A special mention goes to Mike Perkins, who scored a hat trick on his first match back from injury.
Thursday’s away match proved a very different story. In the shallow 20m pool at Leeds Met the game became much more aggressive and less mobile, with a lot of wrestling and fouls taken. Leeds Met clearly knew how to play their pool to the best and quickly racked up goals with some powerful shots that overwhelmed York.
York attempted to counter this by crowding out the goal line and double-marking the pitman, but weren’t disciplined enough to pull it off. Wednesday’s Ziggys undoubtedly contributed to slow reactions.
Leeds steadily increased their score against a frustrated York. However, York proved that they could still attack against a team with several National players and were quick to skip the ball up front, where excellent work from Mike Perkins and Chris Unsworth, supported ably by Stuart Paterson, brought York 3 goals as something of a consolation. Many more shots were saved by Leeds Met’s excellent keeper, including several from 2 metres.
York have finished mid-ranking in their BUCS league, with a previous victory against Bolton (6-2) and a defeat away to Liverpool (10-4).