7:00am Thursday 9th July 2009
By Roger Guttridge
CONTROVERSY ruled the day when Christchurch and New Milton Seagulls’ water polo juniors made their first excursion outside the South West region.
Seagulls began and ended the Red Cross Under-16 tournament at Basingstoke with convincing 12-0 and 12-1 wins over Basingstoke B and Worcester.
But their hopes of taking at least a share of the trophy were dashed by controversial refereeing decisions in their other two matches, against London League high-flyers Basingstoke A and Croydon.
Against Basingstoke A, Seagulls were 1-0 up with 90 seconds to go and thought they had secured victory when they were awarded a penalty.
They duly scored only for the referee to overturn his original decision saying he had awarded a free throw instead.
In the confusion Basingstoke equalised, then took the lead with just six seconds on the clock to win 2-1.
Against tournament favourites Croydon, Seagulls clawed their way back from a 4-0 deficit to draw level with 20 seconds to go.
They then scored what they thought was a winning goal, only for the referee to controversially declare that the clock had expired one second before the ball crossed the line.
Despite a protest, the 4-4 scoreline stood – although there was consolation for Seagulls’ Megan Fletcher, whose defensive work won her the award for the female player of the tournament.
Coach Rob Webber said: “It was a shame to lose a share of the trophy on a couple of shaky decisions but players have to bounce back from those disappointments. This tournament represented another step up in class and was a real test of our players.”
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