Strong finish for GB U19 men at Euro champs

The Great Britain U19 men’s water polo team performed well at the LEN European Championships and finished 16th after a close final match.

Head coach, Sean King, and the 13 players headed to Minsk, Belarus for the competition that started on 26 August.

The team qualified following a three-match qualification round in Manchester in May and became the first British men’s side to reach a European water polo championships in 10 years.

The first match saw the team compete against Russia and finish with a score of RUS 19 – GBR 2. John Pratt and Captain Matt Madden were the goal scorers.

Next up for the team was the Netherlands, which saw the young players perform consistently throughout the match scoring a goal in every quarter. The final score was 14-4 with Carpenter, Ben Riding, John Pratt and Ben Ray scoring one goal a-piece.

By far the toughest match of the tournament for Great Britain was against Serbia. This was reflected in the final 24-1 score. Chris Sturtevant converted Great Britain’s only goal.

Strong final match

Great Britain gave it their all in the final game of the tournament – the 15-16th play-off match – against Slovenia.

They led 4-2 after the first quarter thanks to goals from Michael Patterson, Pratt and a Tom Hutchins brace but  Slovenia had levelled by half-time.

By the end of the third quarter, Great Britain led 7-5 – Pratt and Hutchins both completing hat-tricks – but Slovenia hit back to win the final quarter 3-0 to take the tie 8-7.

Image credit: England Water Polo Twitter