England men win EU Nations U21 tournament in Manchester

England’s Men’s U21 team secured victory at the EU Nations tournament in Manchester which took place from the 18-19 November.

They beat Denmark, Scotland and City of Manchester to take home the title, playing some solid matches over the two-day competition.

England’s Tom Manley was awarded top keeper for the men, while another English player, Chris Sturtevant (pictured), took home both MVP and top goalscorer.

A successful weekend for England’s water polo saw the women’s U21 team also win gold.

The English men’s opening match proved to be their closest as they overcame a spirited City of Manchester side, described by fan site England Water Polo as a mixture of heft and experience.

But Sean King’s young English squad rose to the challenge and had their noses in front at the end of all four quarters, ultimately prevailing 10-9.

England unchallenged by Scottish rivals

That result proved the catalyst for a succesful weekend for the English squad as they dominated play in their second match against Scotland, winning 18-1.

The first half of the match saw little resistance from Scotland as the English side chalked up 10 goals without conceding.

Scotland clawed back one goal in the third quarter, but a hat-trick from Chris Sturtevant put the English side 14 goals ahead.

The final quarter saw Scotland on the defensive as they tried desperately to hold off the oncoming storm, but England added another three goals to close the tie.

English men land title with victory over Denmark

England had been working on the speed of their counter attack, and it showed in their final match of the tournament. At the end of the first quarter against Denmark, they led by two goals, the score 3-1 in their favour.

And the Danes had little to return with in the second quarter of the match. They managed to sneak in one goal, whilst the English side hammered home another six. This took the score to 9-2 at the turnaround.

Enjoy a well executed slo-mo England goal on the extra as we approach the end of Q4 in the final game of the Manchester U21 EU Nations pic.twitter.com/7fdSA3x7Yb

— England Water Polo (@ENGWaterPolo) November 19, 2017

Going into the second half, the Danish side seemed to have their heads back in the game. They won the third quarter three goals to one, edging back into the match.

But England put paid to Denmark’s hopes of a win in quarter four. The squad moved the ball around brilliantly and scored a further three goals, taking the final score to 13-6 in their favour.

England Men’s U21 Team

• Harrison Barker-Smith
• Connor Carpenter
• Tom Hutchens
• Matthias Madden
• Thomas Manley (GK)
• Aril Pandya (GK)
• Michael Patterson
• John Pratt
• Benjamin Ray
• Benjamin Riding
• James Spencer-Boyce
• Ben Stephenson
• Isaac Wass
• Christopher Sturtevant

Image credit: ENG Water Polo Twitter