Sussex League Water Polo
Hastings Seagull vs Brighton
January 2025
This was the first game of the season but both teams took only a short time to settle. After two minutes the Hastings Captain, James Blything, broke the Brighton defence with a withering shot from five metres and the in the next attack did the same again! The responses from the Brighton attacks were well defended by both Duncan Izzard and Tim Pearce and the Hastings goalie pulled off two spectacular saves. Will Greenhouse, after fighting past the defence, bagged a cool goal and this was followed by young Ryan Webb’s blistering shot into the top right of the net. One more goal by Tom McCloud from his determined attack from the left flank and the quarter ended with Brighton managing only one goal against a combined Hastings defence.
Duncan Izzard switched to attack and immediately scored two of his classic goals from the two metre mark. Brighton were constantly attacking but were unable to find the spot in the Hastings goal that would win them a goal. Three Hastings Junior substitutes were eager to enter the water and this not only gave three of the senior players a breather but gave the youngsters valuable experience against some veteran Brighton players. The Brighton response was two goals, one of which was a penalty, and the quarter ended up with another goal from Will Greenhouse who was able to elude the defence to score his second. The half time score was 8-3 in the Seagull’s favour.
The third quarter started with attack and counter attack and resulted in even rewards with both sides scoring two goals – the Hastings prizes being taken by Izzard and Blything both using their powerful shooting abilities. Tom McLoud managed twice to swim past his defender and bag two fine goals and Blything used his strength once more to beat the Brighton goalie. Brighton were still showing signs of retaliation but their score for the quarter was only two. The Hastings goalie, Richie Moon, stopped multiple shots and on one occasion became so enthusiastically involved in a melee in front of his goal the referee awarded a penalty against him. Quick thinking by the defenders thwarted Brighton’s attempts to score when he was out of the water.
With the score standing at 14-6 the fourth quarter gave the Hastings Captain a chance to try some strategies that had been practised in training and this resulted in playing members of the whole team and a final result of 16-7 with last goals from Webb and Izzard. A strong start to the season and a good reflection on the efforts made by everyone in the gruelling January training sessions.
The team list on the night was :- James Blything (Capt) Duncan Izzard, Richie Moon Tom Mc Loud, Will Greenhouse, Ryan Webb, Michael Thorogood, Toby Waters, P Neshow, Tim Pearce.
Many thanks go to Scott Blything on the table and our referee Tim from Sevenoaks.
T G Pearce 21-01-2025