Bristol Central expect the worst and usually get drawn in some far flung Eastern European water polo stronghold where the food and accommodation can be best described as ‘ropey' and where pools are coloured dark green! So, when the draw was made in August and we were off to Brescia Italy, there was a whoop of delight to be playing in the land of Pasta and Pizza. Then we saw the list of teams!!!! From Hungary, Croatia, Greece and the host Italians…… world class countries and also the French and Austrians…. Stiff competition!

Our 1st game v Patras – Greece - gave us an early wake up call as to the standard of play… Physically they weren't much bigger but they were a fit team and they reacted quicker on change of possession. This showed with 3 counter attack goals leaving a 1st Qtr score of 4 -1. In the 2nd & 3rd Quarters, Patras scored freely from set attacks and extra man, and they ran out easy winners 16 – 5 .

The 2nd game on the Thursday v Medvescak Zagreb of Croatia was a much closer game. Only 4 - 2 down after the 1st quarter and lots of missed extra man chances made the team realise that we could compete against a professional team.

We hung on grimly at times but with halftime at 7 - 4 & 3rd Qtr at 9 - 5 we kept the opposing team under pressure. We finally lost 11 - 8 but not before Craig Figes unleashed a rocket in the top corner from 15 metres out . That set the Croatian coach into a final ‘rant' at his team for not dispatching us Brits into oblivion. He was not a happy coach!

Friday's game was against Brendon Eger of Hungary. This was a very harsh lesson of how to counter attack and score of 28 - 3 reflected that. To our credit, we kept maintaining a full 6 man attack and didn't use negative tactics. The French & Austrian teams were beaten by similar scores using such tactics so we felt we had a small moral victory.

Saturday morning saw us play the home team Brescia, who were clear favourites to win this round and full of world class internationals such as Calcaterra , Hinic and Vicevic. Knowing what to expect and better use of possession saw Central not suffer so many counter attack goals. Playing an active defence on the centre forward position reduced goals from this position but the quality of the outside shooting was exceptional. Our tally of 5 goals was pleasing and so was a score of 1 -1 halfway through the 1st quarter! But Brescia ran out clear winners 18 - 5 and we were pleased we kept going throughout the game with a full 6 man attack.

Saturday evening saw us play Taverny from France. Clearly they were favourites and they included 5 Russians – 1 being veteran Apasencko who starred for Russia in the '93 Europeans at Sheffield. We started very strongly by going 5- 2 up mid way through the 2nd, but once again good outside shooting kept them in the game. Our very active defence and constant counter attack put pressure on them throughout, but we tired and fell behind 12 - 9 early in the 4th quarter. A time – out gave us a respite and then the team began a fight back that caught Taverny completely off guard. We levelled it 12 - 12 with less than 2 minutes to go and then missed an extra man chance to go ahead. Taverny's extra experience told in the final part of the game and 2 late goals sealed it for them to win 14 -12. We felt we had a real opportunity to beat a higher placed team, and were very disappointed.

Our final game v Tirol Innsbruck on Sunday morning was our last chance to win. We don't normally start well when playing morning water polo but this was a fabulous exception! Constant counter attack and excellent finishing saw us take a 6 – 0 lead midway through the 2nd quarter and a 9 -2 half time score sent the game out of reach for the demoralised Austrians. We included all of our bench players in the 2nd half and to gain valuable experience and we ran out comfortable winners 13 – 7.

This meant we finished in 6th place, one off the bottom. Brescia (who beat beat Eger in the feature game on TV 15 -10) won the group. Eger, Patras and Medvescak qualified for the next round.

The competition was played under the new rules and this will have a major effect on the game particularly the longer quarters and shorter possession time. It will mean more fitness and swimming required and the difference between the professional teams who train daily and teams like us will widen considerably.

Players who shone throughout the competition for Central were Craig Figes – with 21 goals, Daniel Williams and Jon Hutchens in attack - Matt Thresher & John Sissons in defence and Andy Crawford as goalkeeper.

Back row

Rob Bird, Paul Morris, Greg Harper, Sean Coles, John Hutchins, Nico Arocha, Richard Manion.

Front Row

Craig Figes, Spike Massey, John Sissons (Capt.) Daniel Williams, Matt Thresher, Andy Crawford, Rhys Tamlyn (Coach)

 

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