Having been promoted at the end of last season to national division 2, this season was always going to be harder than last.
Penrith Canoe Club A went into the last canoe polo tournament of the season, 3rd from bottom in the table. However, the team has definitely progressed over the season and played some of our best polo yet.
In the first game against Luton, we won 2:1 with both goals from Jack Dunn. Luton are currently bottom of the league, so we knew it would be our easiest game of the day. The 2nd game was against Tees Tigers who are currently top of our half of the table, so was potentially our hardest game of the evening. However, team spirit was high and everything went to plan in both attack and defence.
A long shot early goal from Jack Dunn seemed to knock Tees Tigers’ confidence. Penrith kept piling on pressure and resisting all their attacks, eventually winning 5:1 with goals from Chris Archer, Caitlin Fox and Hilary Clarke.
Next up were Hull Mariners, currently 2nd in our half of the league, so also a potentially hard game. However, Penrith spirits were high and after a close game, we just won, 1:0 with a goal from Katie Farley. Penrith then had a rest for 4 games and obviously ate too much cake, as they seemed to lose their spark against Trentham A, losing 2:4 with Penrith goals from Caitlin Fox & Jack Dunn.
Then another long rest and the final game against White Rose who they should have beaten, ended as a narrow defeat 2:3 with Penrith goals from Tim Mather & Robin Helsby.
At least the whole team got on the score sheet, and overall enough points were gained to keep Penrith above the bottom 2 relegation places. Onwards and upwards next season.
