| A Team | B Team | C Team | Ladies | 2004/05 Season |
|---|
Manchester A. The first tournament was a good start for the A team who are again aiming to make the play-offs this season. The three games that we won were against the teams who had recently been promoted to this division (Leeds White Rose, Derby Rammers B and Kingston Krackens). We drew against Derby Rammers A despite dominating possession for the vast majority of the game - so that was a bit disappointing. Still for a team who have not trained together very much over the last few months it is a very promising start.
The second tournament was a bit more disappointing. The first game against Selkirk Toon was a closely contested game. Without our star goal keeper, we were a bit exposed in defense. Our usual tactics to force the long shots resulted in goals against us. We then missed a penalty so ended up losing the game 4-3. We then lost to Hull Mariners in the next game 4-2 in another well contested game. In the final game of the evening against FOA Y we mixed the game up a bit playing more aggressive attacking polo. This worked well for us and we won 3-1. With the more attack minded and fastest members of the team who attended that night, we should have probably played this style of game all evening. We continue to hold pole position in the league, but only because we have played more games than the rest. Next tournament, we should have our full squad available to help avenge the evenings losses.
The third tournament was a repeat of the games of the first tournament. We again won all our games against the league newbies. However, we played like muppets in the last games loosing 4-2 to Derby Rammers A. As a result we may have blown our chance of a place in the promotion playoffs. We will have to play well and have a bit of luck in our final tournament. Game on!
Unfortunately, we choked in our final tournament. We did avenge our last defeat to Selkirk with a resounding win. However, against Hull we played well in the first half but then collapsed in the second. Our awful run of form continued into our final game with FOA loosing heavily. A very disappointing end to the season and 'we thought' our chances of getting to the promotion play-off dashed.
As it turns out, we almost did make the play-offs. We finished with the same points as Derby Rammers A, but we were pushed in to third place by goal difference.
So our priorities for next season is to work out how to score more goals. We could also use the services of a good sports psychologist.
| League | Position | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | G/Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Div 2 (North) | 3 of 8 | 14 | 8 | 1 | 5 | +6 |
Manchester B. The team line up for Manchester B this season is as follows: Alan, Scott, Steve, Huw, Phil and Daz.
Our first tournament was held in York the week prior to Christmas. Although the team had not trained together for quite a while it turned into a successful tournament. We played really well as a team and came home with 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. We had not played in the first tournament so these results left us comfortably in mid table.
The second tournament was held in Stockport, which is a great pool and close to home. Our team for this tournament was boosted by the arrival of Umberto (kindly sponsored by easyjet) from Sardinia, Italy. This gave us all a boost coming into the tournament but our performance didn’t reflect this. We played 4 games without really getting up a head of steam. Although we came out with 3 wins and a loss, none of us were happy with the way we played. We have still not played the best team in our division and have been beaten twice by a much improved and faster Wildcats. The last game of the night brought a shock, as Bury beat Wildcats, which helped us to lie in second at the halfway point of the season
| League | Position | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | G/Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Div 3 (North) |
Manchester Ladies. Report to follow.
| League | Position | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | G/Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Div 1 Ladies National | ||||||
| Div 3 (Central) |
Manchester C (a.k.a. Manchester Mayhem). Played Oct 15th Stockport. This is a new venue for polo and very nice it is too - thanks Graham for liaising with the pool staff and getting the goals up. Mayhem started well, but later descended a bit into, well, mayhem. Players were: Dave (Higson) Rory Christine Ben Paula and Helen (H). First game was against Tees Rockets. We gradually got into the swing of things, and gained our confidence. Dave provided good advice, structure and heroic forays. We won the game against Tees, sticking well to our plans when defending. Next game, Newcastle university. Played similarly and fought hard, a close game, end result 1-1. Then we played two progressively stronger teams, White Rose, followed by West Lothian. At this stage, although we were continuing to stick well to our plans when defending, our over-commitment when attacking became horribly apparent. The opposition were able to make quick breaks against us, while we were in general disarray, oops, goals against, er, numerous.
In Tournament two, the first game v Manchester Uni went happily, we got into swing of things and
beat them, hooray.
This was a brief bit of sunshine in an otherwise rather cloudy evening. The other teams we played (foaZ, cherwell, kingston, trent uni) were mainly
of a similar standard to us, but in each case we ended up losing :-( usually
by just one goal.
On the positive side, we had quite a few successful forays, goals from most
members of the team, and some tic tacs.
| League | Position | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | G/Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Div 4 (North West) | 2 | 1 | 6 |