British Championships 2009

Rotherham Metro lose out in thriller for the championship - 23/02/09

In the men's final Lancaster edged a fantastic win over Rotherham to take the title with a final score of 8-7.

The first quarter stayed goal-less for almost five minutes before Rotherham's Gaberretta made good use of his team's one-man advantage to take the lead. But Lancaster struck back less than a minute later when Burgess found himself free on the post and hit home. 

The second quarter began with Rotherham trying to push ahead and it was they were struck first but they had to regain the lead after Lancaster equalized.

As the quarter progressed Lancaster's pace began to tell and a fantastic individual 25m swim from Tom Curwen was finished with a bottom right had corner goal. Curwen struck again to take Lancaster into the second half of the match with a 5-3 lead.

As the match moved into the third quarter, Rotherham struck back within 50 seconds of the restart to make it 5-4 and then Fraser Rutherford hit a smart left hand finish to tie the match.

Lancaster continued to target Rotherham's goal but could not convert their pressure and with just over a minute left on the score board Rotherham regained the lead with their third goal of the quarter. With seven seconds to go, Lancaster's No 4 Glen Robinson found some space to shoot and send his side into the final quarter level.

The final quarter started tightly and after a third exclusion, Rotherham's No 13 Paul Floyd found himself no longer playing a part in the game.

But it was Rotherham who went back into the lead through GB centre-forward Adam Scholefield and the outfit slowed the pace of the match as the timer ticked down.

Curwen hit back for Lancaster, completing his hat-trick, and with less than seven seconds left on the clock Lancaster hit Rotherham on the break to take the lead 8-7. Rotherham called a time-out but as the game resumed they could only hit the post in the dying second of the match.

Lancaster captain Chris Hartley said: "It was a hard match but you always have to be confident, especially with the players we have in the likes of Tom Curwen, Alex Parsonage and Scott Carpenter. We have match winners in our team and a great keeper in Dave Bush.

"I felt we just had the strength and determination, along with a lot of pace, to win us the match, and it helps having a professional coach in the form of Alberto Bertolotti."
In the men's play-off, West London Penguins edged third place ahead of City of Manchester with another extremely close match ending in 8-7.

Click here to read the Rotherham Advertiser's report

Rotherham Metro progress to last 4 - 08/02/09

Rotherham Metro successfully negotiated their way through to the semi finals on the 21st/22nd of February.  Metro kicked off their campaign on Saturday against a rising London Invicta.  In a close game Metro never lost control of the game tempo and managed to keep a young talented Invicta side under wraps throughout the four quarters.  With top scorer Adam Scholefield banned both Fraser Nielsen and Richard Leighton shared centre forward responsibilities with great success.  Resulting in a 11-6 win.

On day 2 Metro faced Cheltenham side at 9am.  This ridiculously early start seemed to level things and Metro started sluggishly and fell 5-3 behind with 4 minutes to go before half time.  Coach Norman Leighton made several tactical substitutions and Metro showed their strength in depth to reverse the score line to 7-5 at half time.  Matt Birch saving a penalty in the process. 

After the break the third quarter saw both teams score 3 goals.  In the last period Cheltenham came within one to 11-10 then goals from the returning Scholefield, F Rutherford and Jake Vincent gave Metro a flattering score line of 16-11.  Essentially granting a semi final berth.

The final game was to decide top spot in the group.  If anyone turned up thinking this was a dead rubber then think again.  In a repeat of last years final Metro took on a Manchester side riddled with current GB players.  Rotherham Metro started in the worst possible manner and trailed 4-0 with 5 minutes of the second period remaining.  Metro eventually broke their duck and followed it up with a Frazer Rutherford goal 0.5 seconds before the hooter.  4-2 at half time. 

In a high quality game Metro clawed Manchester back in step by step with a combination of excellent defensive and clever attacking play resulting in Metro hitting the front for the first time with 5 minutes of the last period remaining 7-6.  With wild following support from the devoted legion of Rotherham Metro supporters boosted by the support of the Rotherham WAG's (who missed game one because of the early start) Metro cancelled out the Manchester attack.  Then Richard Leighton struck an absolute screamer off the inside of the post that nearly tore the net to give Metro a 2 goal advantage with 3 minutes remaining.  Manchester never stopped fighting to their credit but when Metro went 3 goals in front a remarkable comeback was complete.  Final score 10-7.

This means Rotherham Metro play 2nd place in group B London Penguin.  Semi Finals start at 1300 on Saturday 21st at the Manchester Aqautic centre.  Please let everyone connected to the club know as we will need all your support.  We want an atmosphere like today as it felt like a home game and Manchester fans were completely out shouted.

The other semi final sees Lancaster take on Manchester in what should be a high quality and tightly fought match.  Further match details and photo's to follow soon.

British Championships 2009

Reigning champions Rotherham Metro begin their defence of the British Championships at the Manchester Aqautic Centre on February 7/8th 2009.  The top eight clubs from the National League compete in 2 mini round robins in order to reach the Semi-finals on the 22/23 of February. 

Rotherham Metro go into the first weekend with arguably the easier of the 2 qualification groups.  With games against Invicta, Cheltenham and Manchester and only the top 2 progressing to the finals Rotherham Metro expect some tricky games with Manchester (last years runners up) and Invicta (London) in particular.  Also given the fact top scorer Adam Scholefield will serve a one game ban in the opening game against Invicta.

Click here for the 2009 round one fixtures

Check here soon for the latest squad information, results and match reports