• William Salt and Pantelis Kardakaris stand out despite loss                  
•  Leeds look to bounce back next week against Sheffield

THE UNIVERSITY of Leeds men’s Water Polo team were unfortunate to come second-best on Wednesday, in a match against the esteemed squad of Loughborough University. The end result of 6-13 is perhaps one that is too scathing towards the Leeds side and does not necessarily reflect how well they competed for much of the game. It is however, what the final score turned out to be and let there be no doubt that Leeds were up against an accomplished Loughborough side, who thoroughly deserved their win.

In recent history, matches between Leeds and Loughborough have always been close and produced some thrilling Water Polo. There seemed to be a certain awareness of this rivalry going in to the match, as both teams started with a frenetic energy, looking to enforce their style of play. Leeds were able to gain possession from the blow of the whistle and clearly looked to put some real pressure on Loughborough in both attack and defence.

Up until the first stoppage, the two teams displayed great tact in defence but offered two very different styles. Leeds opted for a high-risk style of defence, which put great pressure on Loughborough to use the ball quickly, but did inevitably result in many ordinary fouls and a noticeable amount of major fails leading to players being ejected. Loughborough’s defence was one of great organisation; the team re-grouped quickly and made it difficult for Leeds to achieve many fast-breaks.

As a result of these two effective styles of defence, the score was only 1-1 after ten minutes, with each goal coming from powerful shots on goal way beyond the 5 metre line. The first Leeds goal came from number 6 Kelleher, who continued to have an impressive performance. The match continued in this cagey, tense style for some time as both teams struggled to unlock the other’s defence. As a result the score at half-time was 4-6, with impressive goals being scored for Leeds by Goulding and William Salt.

After the break at half-time however, Loughborough seemed to seize control of the game and were able to navigate their way around Leeds’ impressive defence. It seemed as though the physicality and pace of the match had somewhat taken its toll on the Gryphons, who were now conceding a considerable amount of penalties and allowing their opponents to make far too many effective fast-breaks. The Gryphons did at least manage to visibly disrupt the afternoon of Loughborough captain Ben Kobler, who was frequently caught out committing rash major fouls out of frustration.

Although Leeds were able to claw back a couple of points in the dying minutes, courtesy of Kelleher, the game was already won. Loughborough had proven to be clinical when it mattered most and were quite rightly the victors of a highly entertaining Water Polo encounter.

The Gryphons look very promising this season and there are plenty of positives to be taken from Wednesday’s match. Despite conceeding 13 points, the goalkeeper Kardakaris was outstanding at times and the whole squad appeared very assured of their style of play and how to enforce it.

The game was far closer than its outcome would suggest and consequently, the side will surely be confident when they play Loughborough again, later in the year.

James Candler 

Featured photo: The Gryphon