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Water Polo: Lancaster champions again - SLIDESHOW
Lancaster City made it 10 National League titles in the last 13 years after two hard-fought victories last weekend at the their home pool at Salt Ayre.
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The first game was against local rivals Manchester.
Lancaster started brightly but found Manchester's international goalkeeper Ed Scott was in supreme form as he rebuffed a number of early shots including a penalty save from Scott Carpenter.
However, Carpenter was determined not to be thwarted and opened the scoring with the first two goals. This was added to by Colin Burgess as Lancaster established a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Manchester responded with two goals from Rob Rae but this was only a brief comeback before goals from Glen Robinson, Alex Parsonage and a further effort from Carpenter extended the lead to 6-2.
The second half was a low key affair as the home side controlled the game and restricted Manchester to a number of long-range efforts. Two further goals from Carpenter extended Lancaster's lead before late goals by Simpson and Bourne gave a final score of 8-5 to Lancaster.
This result meant that victory over reigning champions Bristol would guarantee Lancaster the title.
Italian coach Alberto Bertolotti had Lancaster fired up for this vital game and the players responded, racing into a four-goal lead by the end of the first quarter.
Carpenter again led the way but his goals were shared with great counter attacking effort from Tom Curwen, a man-up conversion from Parsonage and a accomplished finish by International Junior Ciaran James.
Bristol did stage a mini fightback with goals from Thresher, Hutchins and Morris.
But Lancaster were in no mood to be denied as two goals in the final minute of the third quarter from Junior Internationals Glen Robinson and Matt Little re-established Lancaster's four-goal advantage.
This was extended at the start of the final quarter by Carpenter as Lancaster ran out the clock to seal a 10th title with a convincing 8-5 victory.
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Weather for Lancaster
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
