JERSEY men’s water polo team have made the play-offs of the South-East League after finishing the West Division in second place.
They recorded three wins and two draws over the weekend when the Island hosted the second round of league games at Les Quennevais.
The Jersey wins came against Basingstoke 12-11, Southampton 10-6 and Cranleigh 24-3, with draws recorded against Oxford 7-7 and league leaders Worthing 10-10.
‘The game against Worthing was by far the toughest and most exciting of the weekend,’ said team captain Nat Snook, who explained that Jersey only tied the game through a superb Daniel De Oliveira goal with just one second remaining.
Goalkeeper Chris Le Cornu (15) played his first game for the Island side against Cranleigh and helped Jersey to a big victory.
Finishing the league in second ensures the Island side a spot in the play-offs in Crawley on 6 April, when they, along with winners Worthing, will take on the top two teams from the East Division for the South-East title.
‘Generally it was a very high standard of play, so I am very pleased with the result,’ added Snook. ‘We were a bit disappointed to draw against Oxford but then I was very impressed that we got a draw with Worthing. The guys did very well and I would pick out Daniel De Oliveira and Mark Bayliss as having put in very good performances over the weekend.
‘Next we’ve got the play-offs and it’s going to be very hard, but it’s good to know, after we did so well last year, that it wasn’t just a flash in the pan. It has proved that we can build ourselves up with another good performance.
‘It’s great for Jersey water polo, and hopefully more and more people will try the sport out - we now have a lot of new members and we may be getting a junior side together.’
Jersey: Nat Snook (captain), Rick Godson, Stef McGreevy, Steve Price, Matt Gregory, Scott Pitcher, Tom Cope, Bruce Hutchison, Mark Bayliss, Nick Dotter, Richard Lain, Daniel De Oliveira, Dave Cope, Rob Taylor, John Woodward. The team kit was sponsored by UBS.
Article posted on 26th February, 2008 - 12.00am
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