Bradford take full advantage of York’s slow start in Water Polo
Photograph by Justyn Hardcastle
UNIVERSITY OF YORK 8
UNIVERSITY OF BRADFORD 11
Wednesday 18th November – UPolo League
A second-half revival was not enough to prevent York’s water polo side slipping to UPolo League defeat against Bradford on Wednesday night. Captain Arran Bowen-la Grange, who rode out the game on a crest of pure fury, contributed three of his team’s eight goals, but there were shortcomings in other areas and the visitors, in truth, never looked in danger.
Despite being numerically disadvantaged – they travelled from West Yorkshire with only seven players, in contrast to York’s 13 – Bradford defied fatigue and their opponent’s attacking threat for a deserved win at the Archbishop Holgate School. Matthew Foulds personally contributed five goals, and created many more, while Lionel Ren notched a hat-trick.
Duncan Eggleston led York’s early assault, blasting an effort into the goalkeeper’s face before striking the post, but the hosts’ industry quickly faded. Two goals in quick succession mid-way through the first quarter, the first by Ren and the second by Foulds, exposed some worrying defensive deficiencies for Bowen-la Grange. Goalkeeper Darren Burchell was given little chance to repel these shots, given the space afforded to Bradford’s playmakers.
Captain Arran Bowen-la Grange tries to convey where improvements are needed inbetween the first and second quarters. Photograph by Justyn Hardcastle.
Incensed, Bowen-la Grange stormed forward to slam the ball home from 15 yards and half the deficit, but York’s respite was short-lived. Toby Gill, with a long-range Exocet, and Foulds, with an imaginative reverse spin-shot, had stretched the lead to 4-1 at the hooter.
Bradford, sensing that creeping fatigue might become a factor later on, wasted little time in putting the contest to bed. Two quick goals, another from Ren and Foulds’ third – once again an audacious backwards shot – moved the score to 6-1 and York, by this time reduced to speculative long-range pot shots, had become clumsy and dispirited. Despite coming under sustained pressure – Nick Dheir was forced to athletically repel a tester from Gill – York did pull one goal back before half-time through Stuart Paterson.
Despite knowing that a third quarter surge would be their only route back into contention, York conceded within a minute of the restart, as Giovanni Grant got the better of their defence to make it 7-2. A classy lob from Richard Clarke reduced the gulf once again, but the pattern had become engrained that a York goal was instantly followed by a Bradford reply, and Foulds converted a penalty throw for 8-3.
York left themselves with too much to do after a sluggish start against a clinical Bradford side. Photograph by Justyn Hardcastle.
Bowen-la Grange contributed a beautiful lob of his own for York’s fourth but, with only seven minutes on the clock, a fightback was never really on the cards. As Bradford’s tired legs and arms finally started to impact on proceedings, York did at least have the consolation of outscoring their foes in the second-half.
Although a further two strikes from the imperious Foulds saw off any threat of a York win, three goals from Thanos Matzanas and another from Bowen-la Grange at least made the scoreline respectable at 11-8.
Nonetheless, there remains plenty to work on in training next week, particularly in defensive areas, a fact alluded to by skipper Bowen-la Grange afterwards. “Well the main reason we lost was our slow start in the first quarter. We won the rest of the game, but were just so sloppy at the start the damage was already done,” he said.
York Squad: Darren Burchell, Nick Dheir, Arran Bowen-la Grange (c), Hugh Freye-Cook, Thanos Matzanas, Andrew Nash, Duncan Eggleston, James Richardson, Stuart Paterson, Andrew Woodard, Tim Parkin, Ian Chadderton, Richard Clarke
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Arran Bowen-la Grange looks hot in that picture. I certainly would.