A match against Portsmouth was the next chapter of the 2nd team’s journey through the Hampshire league. Buoyed by a good showing against the 1st team a couple of weeks ago, confidence was high going into the game.

The first quarter saw both teams start well. Being evenly matched, both teams had opportunities when attacking, but good defence ensured the score at the end of the quarter was 2-1 in Portsmouth’s favour.

The second quarter saw both teams attempt to ‘press’ the other team hard when defending. This resulted in a somewhat scrappy quarter, predominantly played in the middle of the pool. Having said that, Portsmouth did create several one on one situations against our keeper, but some outstanding saves from Robin meant both teams only managed to score one apiece. 2nd quarter score: 3-2 Portsmouth.

The third quarter was a bit of a disaster for the Southampton team. A lack of urgency and awareness meant Portsmouth were able to break on us on multiple occasions, and when we were able to regroup in numbers, we defended very deep. Our offense also saw a lack of movement and communication, meaning our offense was turned over several times due to a lack of options for players to distribute the ball. As a result, we conceded four unanswered goals. 3rd quarter score: 7-2 Portsmouth.

After a fairly strongly worded team talk at the end of the 3rd quarter, the 4th and final quarter saw Southampton really take the game to Portsmouth. Much of this quarter was played in Portsmouth’s half of the pool, as our constant pressure forced them back. Our offence communicated much better, and although our passing was not quite as slick as we would have liked, it was nevertheless effective. In addition, after the lacklustre effort of the 3rd quarter, all members of the team swam hard in this final quarter to ensure we only conceded once, whilst scoring twice. Final score 8-4 Portsmouth.

What would otherwise have been a very close game was let down by a poor 3rd quarter. However, it needs to be mentioned that the way in which the team responded to this was highly commendable, and will serve as good experience to those who played that waterpolo is played over four, full quarters. There are certainly many positives that can be taken from this match, and with a couple of weeks until our next game, those aspects which were not so good have plenty of time to be ironed out. Keep it up guys, you’re doing well!

Special mention to Robin for another outstanding game in goal!

Scorers:

1 – Andrew
1 – Paul
1 – Ramsey
1 – Sam