The team talk with Coach, Gareth, was positive and encouraging. The team had done really well defending in Sheffield before half term; now was the time to put in a great effort knowing that Rotherham are a strong team.

Throughout the match we won almost every swim-off, with Q1 being no exception. Grantham had several shots at goal but it proved difficult to score. With Oscar and Thomas scoring Grantham’s goals this quarter we thought we were going into the break at 2:2, until Rotherham sneaked in their third goal of the day in the last second of the quarter.

In the first minute of Quarter 2, Jessica equalised with our third goal. Our draw didn’t last long as Rotherham went on to score another three goals in quick succession, before Jimmin intervened bringing the score to 6:4 to Rotherham. Unfortunately, Rotherham scored again before Thomas scored his second goal of the match, bringing the Q2 score to 7:5.

We all knew this match could go either way as the teams felt very evenly matched.

Quarter three was Grantham’s. Oscar managed to score a hat-trick, including a penalty which didn’t go straight in, but after a couple of passes he still managed to get the ball in the net. With Annie’s goal a minute before the end of the quarter, we were sitting pretty at 9:9. Nail-biting did not describe the atmosphere!

As Q4 rolled around our players started to tire as Rotherham managed to get another two goals. Oscar scored his fifth goal of the match, but glory wasn’t on Grantham’s side as Rotherham sneaked another goal in, in the final second of the match. Is this their new M.O.?

Final score 12:10 to Rotherham.

Gareth congratulated the team on an exceptional performance, telling them it was the best game they’d played to date as a team.

Huge thanks to Rotherham who offered for our players to stay in the pool and join their training session for an extra half hour after the match. Although they were all exhausted, they were delighted to accept the offer.

And finally, thanks as always to our players and parents for spending even more time on the A1 on a Sunday afternoon, and thanks to Gareth, all the coaches, the table team and the referees for making these matches possible.