30/11/2023 - Men vs Essex (H)
The return fixture against Essex provided an opportunity of redemption for the boys after the unfortunate loss against Southampton the night before. The squad was bolstered with fresh faces we were pumped. As well, it was exciting times for Tadpole Akanimo, Tadpole Ketan and Tadpole Josh who were all making their debuts for the men’s team. However, Essex were not to be underestimated tonight with themselves having some new players who showed a lot of promise in the warm-up.
The whistle blew and you know all ready that Lumpfish won the swim-off. After some chastening passing and movement we took the lead. Tadpole Josh defend exceptionally well in the deep end limiting the opportunities Essex’s Pit A, had to score. This quarter was intense with lots of back and fourth from both teams. Tadpole Adam and Preston had great success from scoring from driver against the oppositions inexperienced keeper. Lumpfish as well was unrelenting with the counter attacks netting two for himself. Essex wouldn’t let us break away from them however, scoring two in the quarter with a lob over chundy being the highlight of their quarter. Score 5-2
In the second quarter Barney Bear made a great new friend. Whenever the ball was no-where near him, Barney could be seen flirting with the oppositions Pit A, but when the ball was near boy did they play rough ;). Unfortunately for him he was soon cock-blocked by Grunion ending their fun for the rest of this quarter at least. Back to the water polo and this was an outstanding quarter for the boys who put Essex to the sword. Shot after shot rattled into the opponents goal, with Tadpole Adam and Lumpfish scoring 3 and Tadpole Preston 2, who was denied more by our arch nemesis the cramp. Some great swimming by our debutant Tadpole Ketan and newly capped Grouper also prevented any opportunities for counter attacks from the opposition. Outstanding water polo all-round with only 1 goal conceded meant we had extended our lead to 13-3. To further Essex’s demise one of their players was wrapped for some questionable brutality.
The fightback was on this quarter as Essex came out the blocks with energy. Lumpfish quickly gave away a major and a penalty as the boys were a bit slow to react to Essex’s movement. Unfortunately Chundy wasn’t able to save the penalty and their comeback was on. It was a frustrating quarter for us and with multiple substitutions the boys were out of sync. Chundy Shark also got caught napping and conceded a goal off kickoff. In what was a real arm wrestle we fought back with yet again more goals from Tadpole Adam and Lumpfish leaving the quarter tied at 3-3 leaving the score 16-6.
Even though the game was ours now, goal difference became very important for the team for our fight to win the league. Thankfully Tadpole Akanimo and Tadpole Phil graced the wings causing all kinds of havoc for the Essex defence. After a panicky start, the goals kept raining in. Lumpfish swimming as marlin-possessed constantly found himself open scoring a massive 5 goals in 7 minutes. As always you can’t keep Tadpole Adam out of the action either who scored 2 more. Upon watching this Tadpole Josh decided he wanted some action as well netting his first ever goal for Bart’s.It was a massive team effort with Grouper and Grunion holding down the fort and thankfully stopping Barney Bear’s romance at the same time.
Final Score 24-9
MOTM: Tragically Lumpfish
Scorers:
Lumpfish - 11
Tadpole Adam- 8
Tadpole Preston- 4
Tadpole Josh -1
