Stags Rear their Horns! (30/10)

On another dark and foreboding Wednesday night, Southampton’s biggest boys take on a new challenger: LSE. With our fiercest team so far and a month of intense training behind us, we were a force to be reckoned with.

We immediately paid the price for forgetting our chant by losing the first swim off and conceding a goal via penalty. Another hit the back of our net moments later, leaving a nervous gang of benchwarmers to sweat into their speedos. Luckily this was the wake-up call we needed for Jacob Graham and Alex Wilmshurst to equalise at 2-2 and then again at 3-3! Things were head-to-head with exclusions from both teams until Sam Dalton puts his name on the board with a stylish goal, turning the tide in our favour. There might have been live wires in the water because the atmosphere was electric. The team held LSE at arms length for the rest of the quarter, with spectacular goals from Captain Howard Teng and President Finn Thomas, boosting us up to a two-goal lead. Our strongest start of the season.

We may have won the battle, but we’d not yet won the war. LSE wins the second swim off by a hair but failed to break the steel wall we’d had installed (our defence). “ARM UP,” went the shout, and moments later the ball would ricochet off one of our steadfast defenders. Goalie Mr Ellis wondered when it was his turn to do something. We ended the second quarter 10-6, with President Finn taking advantage of the man up.

Quarter three starts nicely with a goal from our beloved Captain Teng who appears to be only just getting started. The crowd prickles with anticipation as they witness some misconduct from LSE, and Mr Ed Wilkes, desperate to get in on that action gets himself excluded. Nevertheless, a much-appreciated goal from Mr Graham brings us back to our comfortable four-goal lead, where he then puts another one in just to make sure – making that his sixth goal of the match so far. More than his fair share honestly but still nice of him. We couldn’t possibly have it all go our way as our rock in pit Alex Wilmshurst finds himself wrapped, leaving none other than Jack James to step up to the plate. After yours truly buries it in the back of their net, LSE would sneak a goal past us in the last thirty seconds of quarter three. A small price to pay, as that would be the last time they scored for the rest of this match…

The gloves are off in the final quarter! Jack James was a blur of purple, locking down every single attempt at attack. Who knew he could be so vicious. Up-and-coming hotshot Fernando Alvarez felt like sitting on the side of the pool for a bit, bagging his second exclusion and Dalton swept in to score two consecutive goals. Good for him. In the last few moments of the match and amidst all the frenzy, none other than James Popple took charge to secure us our 19^th goal in a glorious head-to-head with the goalie; and out of the kindness of his own heart, Ed Wilkes threads the needle with a scorching shot to round the score off to a satisfying 20-10.

A truly incredible match that represents just how far we’ve come as a team. Every player like a well-oiled cog in a massive Water-polo machine – it can only be up from here for Southampton’s biggest boys.

Written by John Nelson

Most Valuable Player: Jack James for being an impossible-to-crack pit defence

Dick of the Day: President Finn Thomas for swimming straight past the ball (all part of his master plan I’m sure)

Goals/Majors:

Sam Ellis: 0/0

Fernando Alvarez: 0/2

Jacob Graham: 7/0

Finn Thomas: 2/2

Elliot Oldham: 0/0

Sam Dalton: 4/0

Edward Wilkes: 1/2

Jack James: 0/0