Warrender 5’s 2012

On the May 19th several members of Carlisle Aquatic men’s water polo squad travelled to Edinburgh to take part in the annual 5-a-side tournament, hosted be Warrender Water Polo Club. Whilst it’s only a friendly tournament (you know that’s the case when the hosts stress that the night out is just as important as the water polo!), it’s a good measure of fitness and as runners up in 2011, Carlisle were hoping to go one better this year and come home with the crown.

Having arrived a good couple of hours before the first game, Carlisle were looking to shake off any cobwebs in their first match against Burnley B. This proved to be a comfortable 9-1 victory, and Carlisle would almost certainly have had a clean sheet if they had a goalkeeper in their squad! (The outfield players took turns in goals as not one of the three keepers available to Carlisle could make it).

Next up were an ageing Inverness team, who again were beaten 10-1 by Carlisle, with the victors rarely getting out of first gear. A special mention must go to Coach/Super-sub Dave Barker, whose superb positional play and missile-like shooting meant he walked away from the game with two goals.

After breezing through the first two games, Carlisle knew they would have to step it up if they were to win the second two. Edinburgh University (last year’s victors) were Carlisle’s third opponents of the weekend, and were beaten 4-2 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score line would suggest, with Carlisle playing some good polo on their way to a straight forward win.

The final opponents of the group stage were Leeds. This game was especially interesting, not only because the winner would progress to the final, but because Leeds are now in Carlisle’s division in the British Water Polo League, after Carlisle were promoted to Division 3 last year. After a close match and some poor refereeing, the game finished tied at 2-2. Unfortunately however, Leeds progressed over Carlisle on the Goals Scored Rule (They’d scored 5 more goals than us). A mention in this game must go to Matt Little, who performed superbly in goal and made some crucial stops.

Carlisle’s top scorers for the tournament were Dan Barker and Scott Sharpe, both tied on 7 goals.

Despite a disappointing end to the tournament, the Carlisle squad enjoyed both the tournament and the get together/night out afterwards, and hope to be invited back up next year!

Carlisle Squad: Daniel Barker, Dave Barker (Coach/Beast), Matthew Little, Myles Little, Brett Sharpe, Scott Sharpe and Jamie Warwick.