Warrington’s turned out ten players to play their penultimate game of the season in the Liverpool & District League. It was the first senior match where we used our new shot clocks.
Warrington started well with veteran Andy Burke being first to score. Tom Hadley was soon to make it 2-0 as Warrington attacked the deep end. Liverpool came back into the game with two goals but Ian Musgrove ended the quarter with a goal and Warrington had played some good water polo and kept Liverpool to two goals with some good defending.
The second quarter was tight as Warrington attacked the shallow end we might have expected more goals but Liverpool had a strong experienced team. It didn’t keep Addison Brown out who scored within two minutes to bring the score to 4-2 and that’s how the quarter ended.
In the third quarter it was Warrington’s turn to attack the deep end we needed to add to our lead as Liverpool would be strong in the final quarter. It was a great start as Addison Brown made it 5-2 but Liverpool soon pulled one back. With 3 minutes gone Liverpool had a player excluded and but Warrington missed the chance to move further ahead. Liverpool continued to fight back with another goal to make it 5-4. With less than two minutes left of the quarter Addison Brown scored his third goal and Warrington ended the quarter 6-4 up.
Warrington needed to defend the deep in the final quarter with only a two goal cushion the game was far from over. The final quarter started with a Liverpool exclusion but Warrington could not convert the man up in the shallow end. Then Liverpool scored two goals to bring the score to 6-6 Warrington needed to hang on to get something out of this game. With two minutes to go Connor Dean who showed great form on the night scored to make it 7-6. Twenty seconds later Liverpool had another player excluded but Warrington missed the chance to increase the lead. The game ended 7-6 to Warrington and an historic win for Warrington over a team likely to finish 2nd in the league.
The Warrington team played really well and younger players Tim Mainwaring and Tom Costello played a vital role in holding their own against some rather large players whilst some of the Warrington old guard had a blow! The shot clocks played a significant part as it gave our players time to cover breaks when they realised the opposition were about to gain possession and it helped on the attack when we started our counter attack a few seconds earlier. My thanks to table officials Fiona Dean and Dr Alan Boyle for working out very quickly how to work the shot clocks and score boards.
Warrington’s Team included:- Perter Burke GK, Ian Musgrove (1), Addison Brown (3), Tom Hadley (1), Andrew Burke (1), Connor Dean (1), Tom Costello, Tim Mainwaring, Dave Price and Neil Musgrove GK.