City of Bristol claim U19 Girls Water Polo Plate

City of Bristol dominated the Girls U19 plate competition at the ASA National Age Group Water Polo Championships in Manchester.

Although there were only three teams in the competition, Bristol came into both of their matches with an air of confidence.

City of Bristol team captain, Emily Watkins, commented on their performance: “It feels amazing to win the Girls U19 Plate. We haven’t won anything for a while and we don’t really train with all the girls we played with, but we worked really well as a team.

“We had a bit team talk at the start of the competition, which got us motivated. There was some team bonding too – and we went out thinking we were going to win. I think having that in our minds made us want the win even more.”

Otter Futura played Cheltenham in the final match of the Plate tournament to see who claimed second place. It was a tough match, but Otter took the win 4-3 at the final whistle.

Girls U19 Plate Results

Bridgefield take U17 Boys Plate

Bridgefield secured the U17 Boys Plate after a top performance throughout the tournament. The team sailed through the group stage unbeaten, and faced Watford in the final. Watford were also unbeaten in the group stage, so the final promised to be interesting.

There was almost nothing separating the teams, both keepers performing some impressive saves over the two halves of the match. Both teams scored one apiece in the first half. Petar Djordjic put one in the net three minutes into the first half, but it was returned by Alex Campbell with just 45 seconds left on the clock.

Both teams scored again in the second half, and it looked as though the stalemate would not be broken. Matthew Alderson managed to hit the back of the net with two minutes left in the second half to secure victory for Bridgefield.

Bridgefield team captain, Matthew Kendall commented: “It feels great to win the U17 Plate. We were hoping to qualify for the National Age Group semi-finals, but then we were knocked out – so we are happy to win the plate in the end.

“In between matches we eat together and bond as a team and that helps us to focus on the game.”

Boys U17 Plate Results and Group Tables