YORK City Water Polo Club has narrowly missed out on promotion to division three of the British Water Polo league.

The York team had put themselves in the frame for promotion by climbing to third in the division four table by the end of 2016.

They opened the second half of their season in Grantham with a 12-10 victory over eventual champions Portobello courtesy of braces from Nick Boaz, Chris Burns and Danny Rippon.

In their second match in Grantham, York drew 9-9 with Yorkshire rivals Castleford as Ben Pacey and Eddy Clarkson both scored hat-tricks.

The second weekend of fixtures took place at Marlborough College, Wiltshire at the end of January. York were beaten 10-9 by London-based club Otter and 15-10 by old rivals Cheltenham.

Liam Fletcher, Pacey, Clarkson and George Mak all bagged braces and Boaz added a late penalty against Otter.

Against Cheltenham, centre-forward Will Tomlinson scored his first league goal as York raced into a 7-2 lead. However, York’s lead was gradually eroded as from former Romanian Olympic star Liviu Totolici scored a hat-trick and former Great Britain player Dave Edwards led Cheltenham to victory.

York beat Manchester 6-5 in their final game of the weekend with goalkeeper Andrew Morris in inspired form.

The final round of matches took place on February 25/26 at Walsall’s Gala Baths.

Seven of the eight clubs involved were still competing for one of the top three promotion spots, while four of the eight teams could still take the overall Championship three title.

York opened the weekend with 15-11 victory over Hucknall - Chris Burns (6), Boaz (4), Jonny Lucas, Clarkson, Pacey, and Allessandro Nappi (2) on target.

York went into their final match against Bridgefield needing a victory to guarantee promotion but lost 14-10.

Bridgefield took an early 5-0 lead before Toby Clarkson got York on the scoreboard with a long range effort.

Clarkson added two more goals to his tally in a man of the match performance while Kevin Clarkson and George Mak would also add further goals.

York finished fifth overall, on goal difference, and level on points with Manchester (4th) and Otter (6th).

The York team will now turn its focus towards the Wakefield and District League and Northern League tournament before resuming the British League competition in September.

Brothers Will and Eddy Tomlinson have both made their full British League debuts for York this year after stepping up from the junior team.

Anyone wanting more information about York Water Polo Club should email contact@yorkwaterpolo.org

The club also offers coaching sessions for children aged 8 and above.