Worthing Water Polo success

The Worthing team made a particularly strong start in the first period and this has not always been the case in recent matches. Leading 7-0 at the first break really ended the game as a contest but Crawley kept going and never made it easy for Worthing.

Worthing's all-round play was of good quality and we defended particularly well employing a zone defence to frustrate the opposition for long periods. The few chances that they created were dealt with by goal-keeper Ben Alcorn and on several occasions his passing led to quick counter-attacks.

Overall this was a satisfactory win and the mixture of youth and experience with eight junior players in the squad of 13 proved far too strong for Crawley.

Scorers; - Richard Hooper 4, Scott Martin 3, Ziggy Tate 3, Paul Phillpott 3, Sam Abbott 2, Alexander Cranford 1, Nathan Hart 1, Ben Alcorn 1.

Exclusions; - Andy Cawdrey 1, Dominic Cranford 1, Ziggy Tate 1.

Remaining Squad Members; - Jon Gray, Rob Osborne, Stuart Stirling.

Later in the week Worthing beat Brighton.

Brighton 5, Worthing 14. (Quarter Scores; - 3-2, 5-0, 3-1, 3-2)

The second win of the week was secured against a much improved Brighton team at the Prince Regent pool.

This is not an easy venue to play at being much smaller and most significantly more shallow than Worthing's home pool. This makes for a more physical match but Woithing coped well and played some good water polo on the way to securing the victory.

Having taken a quick 2 goal lead, they contrived to give away two goals but this was the last time the match was level. The second quarter saw a particularly dominant display and with a 8-2 lead at half-time we could afford to relax and play out the remainder of the game.

Scorers; - Richard Hooper 5, Paul Phillpott 5, Scott Martin 2, Ziggy Tate 2.

Exclusions; - Anthony Gray 3, Scott Martin 1, Andy Cawdrey, Stuart Stirling 1, Paul Phillpott 1.

Remaining Squad Members; - Rob Osborne, Sam Abbott, Dominic Cranford, Alexander Cranford, Nathan Hart, Ben Alcorn.

This was a satisfactory week for the senior team who will be busy again this coming week with fixtures away at Sevenoaks and the annual tournament at the Army in Aldershot on Sunday.