Okehampton Water Polo Club 12 St Austell WPC 14 OKEHAMPTON, captained by Richard Corkill, played host to a strong combined St Austell and Bodmin team at a friendly played on Sunday at the Parklands Leisure Centre in Okehampton. St Austell were quickly out of the blocks to score three unanswered goals before Okehampton started to settle down and pass the ball effectively. Good combinations between Paul Biddle and Dave Rogers started to make opportunities for Okehampton that brought the scores level by the end of the first quarter - both their names on the score sheet. The second quarter was relatively even between the two teams with some excellent and determined defence from Jan Whitchurch and Rob Ewen to frustrate several St Austell attacks. The two younger members of the Okehampton team, Jon Radnor and Michael Aylen, showed good attacking skills with both scoring to keep Okehampton in touch by the end of the second quarter. However, the third quarter was to prove decisive for St Austell when they put together a string of good moves to stretch the lead out to 7 ? 12. Okehampton were competitive with some great linking and supporting work from Mark Halliday and Dave Golley in the ?midfield? to create several opportunities for Okehampton to score but the St Austell keeper pulled off some brilliant saves to thwart the home side. The fourth quarter saw Okehampton gradually getting the upper hand and start clawing the game back. Claire Hart completed a hat trick of goals and the determination shown throughout the game by Jack Graves was finally rewarded with possibly the best goal of the night. Coupled with a great quarter from Nick Bowles keeping goal and regularly foiling the St Austell ?long ball? tactic Okehampton were pulling back the St Austell lead when time ran out. The game finished in a win to St Austell by 12 ? 14. In the spirit of the evening a fifth ?quarter? was played which was dominated by Okehampton and gave Richard Corkill the chance to put on the style following his break from refereeing duties. As the quarter drew to an end the score was level at 16 ? 16 with chances for both teams to score, however it was St Austell who scored to complete the extended match 16 ? 17 winners. l The ?inter county? match between Okehampton and St Austell is planned to become a more regular feature and Okehampton will be visiting for the return match in July. Okehampton WPC have been invited to participate in weekend competitions at Penzance and Fowey ? where the venue is the open harbour! Home matches will be publicised at the Parklands Leisure Centre and on the forthcoming Okehampton WPC web site (http://www.okehamptonwaterpolo.org.uk">www.okehamptonwaterpolo.org.uk) Club chairman Richard Corkill said all are welcome to come along and try out water polo. The club hold training sessions at the Parklands Leisure Centre in Okehampton on Sunday evenings between 6pm and 7.30pm. The first session is free and no experience is necessary, though you should be a confident swimmer. For further information contact Richard on 07773 321836.
